117 addicts freed in attack on Orangi drug rehabilitation centre

Unidentified assailants believed to be local drug dealers launched a violent attack on a police-supervised rehabilitation centre in Orangi Town's Mominabad area on the night between Saturday and Sunday, causing extensive damage to the building and freeing scores of recovering addicts.

According to administrators of the rehabilitation centre, a group of stick-wielding men stormed the facility named Sunshine Reform Centre located within the jurisdiction of the Mominabad police station.

The attackers vandalised office furniture, broke down doors of patient rooms, and damaged a government owned vehicle parked on the premises of the facility. During the rampage, a senior police officer and an accompanying constable assigned to the centre were thrashed. They sustained injuries.

The administrators reported that the assailants forcibly released 117 individuals undergoing treatment for substance abuse, escorting them out of the facility. “This centre has, for years, transformed addicts into productive citizens,” said the centre’s director. “We believe these thugs carried out the attack to disrupt our work and boost their illicit drug sales, which had declined sharply since Sunshine opened.” Staff remembers also lamented that despite the facility’s proximity to the Mominabad police station, no reinforcements arrived during the 20-minute assault.

Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar took notice of the incident and summoned the West SSP for a detailed briefing on the incident. “Deploy all available police units immediately to apprehend the attackers,” the minister told the SSP.

He ordered that eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence be used to ensure that the perpetrators were brought to justice. “We must also engage community leaders to safeguard these vital centers for humanity’s service,” Lanjar said.