Two ‘most wanted gangsters’ arrested in Lyari operation

Sindh Rangers soldiers and police officials allegedly arrested two most wanted gangsters with illegal weapons, ammunition and drugs during a joint operation in Lyari. The Rangers spokesman said suspects Shahzad and Naveed are associated with gang war commander Ahmed Ali Magsi’s group.

The suspects are believed to be in direct contact with Magsi, on whose instructions they have allegedly been involved in kidnapping, torturing and murdering more than 50 people.

They are also accused of dumping sacks of dead bodies in and around the Lyari River, extortion, running betting and gambling dens, and sending money to gang war leader Aziz Jan Baloch and Magsi.

During the preliminary interrogation, the suspects allegedly admitted joining Magsi’s group in 2010, and they used to abduct bus passengers and motorcyclists in different parts of Karachi with Munna Qureshi, Kashif (alias Kashi), Khalid (alias Amir), Shan Muhajir, Sardar Asif (aliases Mithu and Kana), Ali Raza, Basit (alias Maut), Jabbar (alias Langra) and others.

The Rangers spokesman said the abductees used to be brought to the gangsters’ cell to be tortured and murdered, then their bodies used to be packed in sacks to be dumped in different areas.

The suspects also allegedly revealed that in 2013 they had abducted Anees from Old Golimar, along with two unidentified friends, on ethnic grounds, bringing him to the torture cell in Sango Lane before killing him and then dumping his body in Hasan Auliya Village near Lyari Expressway. The suspects are also believed to have abducted Mohammad Hanif from Baldia Town, along with an unidentified friend, on ethnic grounds, bringing him to the torture cell in Sango Lane before killing him and then dumping his body in the Lyari River.

The spokesman said Khalil Baloch was abducted from Jehanabad’s Lashari Mohalla and brought to the torture cell, where he was killed before his body was packed in a sack to dump in the Lyari River.

He said Waheed, alias Sajan, was abducted from Lyari’s Kumharwara on suspicion of being an informer and brought to the torture cell, where he was killed before his body was dumped on Mirza Adam Khan Road.

He added that in 2017 the suspects, along with their other accomplices, had gunned down Asghar Ali, alias Mama Garden Baloch, in Chakiwara’s Umer Lane, while in 2018 they had shot dead Abdul Majeed Baloch at Sango Lane’s Bakra Chowk.

The suspects also allegedly revealed that they used to provide phone numbers of various traders to Magsi, then they used to contact the traders on WhatsApp for extortion before sending the collected money abroad to Magsi.

The spokesman said the suspects also provided weekly expenses to Magsi’s operatives, adding that they had also been involved in several encounters with police and fights with rival gangs.