Suspects caught within 24 hours of acid attack on three siblings

The Korangi Industrial Area police claimed solving an acid attack case within 24 hours by arresting two suspects on Saturday evening.

In the shocking acid attack incident on Friday, two teenage sisters and their brother had suffered burn injuries on a main road near Bagh-e-Korangi.

The victims have been identified as Waqas, 19, son of Ghulam Abbas, and his sisters Saima, 19, and Saira, 16.

Station House Officer Aurangzeb Khattak said the victims were taken to the Civil Hospital’s burns ward, where their condition was pronounced stable. Later, police recorded the statements of witnesses, including the statement of the victims’ father, Ghulam Abbas. The father said he is a resident of Gulzar Colony and his children work as labourers at a textile factory in Korangi Industrial Area.

On Friday evening, Abbas said, his children were returning home on a motorcycle when a tyre of their two-wheelers punctured near Bagh-e-Korangi. While they were taking the motorcycle to a puncture repair shop, two persons riding a motorcycle stopped near them, and after using foul words, one of them threw acid on them and fled.

SHO Khattak said the victims’ father had said he knew the suspects involved in the incident and nominated them in the FIR registered on Saturday.

He added that the police had obtained the phone numbers and residential addresses of the accused persons -- Amir Hussain, 23, and Sohail Azam, 22. During the investigation, police carried out raids late on Friday night at different locations, including at the residences of the suspects in Zia Colony, but they were not present there.

On Saturday afternoon, the police, with the help of technical apparatus, tracked the two at TCS Road, Mehran Town, Korangi.

SHO Khattak said that when the police raided the location, the suspects opened fire in a bid to escape. The cops retaliated and after the encounter arrested both Amir and Sohail with injuries. They were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, where they were stated to be in a stable condition. The police also seized a 9mm and a 30 bore pistol from them. During the initial interrogation, the accused confessed to their involvement in the incident and said they had purchased the acid from Joria Bazaar.

They told the police that they worked at the same textile factory where the siblings worked. They said Sohail had solemnised Nikha with Saira and a proposal for marriage between Amir and Saima was being also discussed. They said they had asked Saira’s family to send her to bridegroom Sohail’s home, but they were playing delay tactics.

At this, they said, they got frustrated and planned to throw acid on the girls.