‘Gang using women, children and killers to extort money’

Gangsters have been using women, children and contract killers to carry out their extortion activities in Karachi, an arrested suspect revealed on Thursday.

The suspect, Kabir Ahmed, is allegedly associated with gangster Wasiullah Lakho’s group based in Lyari, the District City police spokesperson said. During the initial interrogation, the suspect revealed that the Lakho gang has become active once again, starting its extortion activities in the Lyari and old city areas. He said that the gang hired contract killers to deliver extortion notes to traders and other businesspersons in the city.

Ahmed added that the hired persons were given Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 for delivering an extortion note and committing firing to scare the target. He said that however, the police crackdown against the gang had caused an unrest among its members.

He told police that Lakho and his associates, including Ahmed Ali Magsi, Arslan Patni, Ilyas Zahri and Ramzani, were residing in Iran and operating the gang from there. He said that the gang consisted of 40 members, most of whom were young boys hired for various tasks. He revealed that the gang also used women and children for collecting the extortion money.

He said that the youngsters in the gang were from various areas of Karachi, including Lyari, Hussainabad, PIB Colony, Malir, Baldia, Mochko, Golimar and Gulbahar areas. He added that the gang’s new recruits did not know each other and Lakho himself gave them the instructions and locations of their targets. He said that Zahri and Patni played a key role to run the gang.

Meanwhile, police claimed to have arrested another member of the Lakho gang after an encounter in Lyari. According to the spokesperson, an exchange of fire occurred between police personnel and two suspects within the limits of the Baghdadi police station.

He said that the one suspect was arrested in an injured condition while his accomplice managed to escape during the shootout. Police recovered a weapon from the possession of the arrested suspect, identified as Babar alias Kalia, allegedly in extortion activities.