Lyari violence kingpin Baba Ladla dies in a hail of bullets

Rangers also kill Sikandar ‘Sikoo’ and Yaseen ‘Mama’ in the 35-minute gunfight

Following Uzair Jan Baloch’s arrest a year ago, another kingpin of violence in the strife-torn Lyari Town, Baba Ladla, died in a hail of bullets while making his last stand against the Rangers on Thursday.

Following a lead, the paramilitary force, which has been spearheading a targeted operation in Karachi since September 2013, carried out a raid in the Phool Patti Lane of the Baghdadi neighbourhood during the wee hours.

A spokesman for the Sindh Rangers said the soldiers were met with armed resistance from the holed up gangsters, adding that a fierce battle between the two groups ensued and lasted for more than 35 minutes. The raiding team cordoned off the entire locality and took their positions, engaging in an exchange of heavy gunfire while they tried to protect themselves from the gangsters’ hand grenades.

By the time the encounter concluded, the paramilitary force was able to injure and apprehend Noor Muhammad, alias Baba Ladla, and two of his associates, Sikandar, alias Sikoo, and Yaseen, alias Mama, as the other gangsters managed to flee. The wounded men were taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where they were pronounced dead on arrival. The soldiers also confiscated sophisticated weapons and ammunition from the battle site.

Ladla was the only key gangster to have eluded the law throughout his criminal career, and his elimination has sprung up the hope that Lyari would finally be freed from the stranglehold of gangsters.

The Rangers statement said Ladla was wanted by the police in more than 74 cases of heinous crimes, adding that he had established a torture cell in Lyari for people abducted from different parts of the city.

 

The watershed moment

According to details gathered from law enforcement and other agencies, Baba Ladla worked as an agent outside a national identity card registration office and charged between Rs300 and Rs400 per card.

Business was good while he resided in the Dubai Chowk area of the town, but then came his watershed moment in the late 90s: he had a heated argument with a man who had fastened a donkey outside his house.

The argument ended with Ladla stabbing the animal’s owner, who died two days later, and the first-ever police complaint was registered against the man who was yet to become one of the most feared Lyari kingpins.

Ladla sought refuge at the house of Abdul Rehman, alias Dakait, now deceased, and it was then that he started his criminal career by joining his guardian’s gang.

 

A career sketch of Ladla

Police sources said that after joining the gang, Baba Ladla started selling drugs, extorting money from businessmen, and kidnapping and murdering people, eventually becoming Dakait’s right-hand man.

After Dakait was killed in a police encounter, Ladla believed he would succeed the deceased, but the gang’s control was handed over to Uzair Baloch, while Baba Ladla remained the commander.

Baloch leading the gang became a bone of contention between the two men, and Ladla started claiming the areas under his rival’s command, giving rise to another gang war in the town, but the Karachi operation forced the two opponents to flee abroad.

While Baloch was arrested by the Rangers last year, Ladla reportedly spent time in Iran, Oman and closer to home, in Pasni. He is believed to have arrived in Karachi less than a month ago.

Baba Ladla has been accused of a variety of crimes over the years. He subjected Mullah Latif to brutal torture and then murdered him on September 1, 2010.

The kingpin and his accomplices attacked a team of law enforcers in Lyari in April 2012 and killed head constable Fayyaz and police constable Tufail. Ladla also tortured and murdered Haji Aslam, his son and three others in Dalmia Society.

Together with Uzair Baloch, he murdered their rival linchpin Arshad Pappu, his younger brother Yasir Arafat and Shera Pathan in Lyari after brutal torture. They also burnt their victims’ bodies.

Ladla kidnapped three Urdu-speaking people in March 2013, tortured them and then murdered one of the abductees while freeing the others.

As for his accomplices who were killed on Thursday, Sikandar ‘Sikoo’ was wanted by the police in more than 15 cases of terrorism. He attacked a police party in Lyari in April 2012 during which SHO Fawad Khan was killed.

He was also involved in the murder of head constable Asif, the torture and killing of two citizens, and the sale and purchase of weapons.

Yaseen ‘Mama’, another close aide of Ladla, was accused of involvement in the killing of law enforcers, the abduction, torture and killing of people from the Katchhi community, and the operation of a drug business in Lyari.