Two AQIS activists among 20 held in Karachi

KARACHI: The Sindh Rangers claimed on Monday to have arrested 20 suspects, including militants of banned outfits.

A spokesman for the paramilitary force said the Rangers conducted raids in Jackson and Civil Lines areas, where two members of the banned al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) were apprehended. They were identified as Saeedul Hassan alias China and Syed Umer Aijaz alias Umer alias Maaz alias Masabh.

During the preliminary investigation, he said, it came out that the arrested men were involved in carrying out attacks on the police and Rangers check points situated in Gulshan and Nazimabad areas.

In a separate raid, a man allegedly affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London was nabbed in the Hyderi area. The man, identified as Mohammed Saleem alias Choosani, was allegedly involved in a number of extortion and graffiti cases, the spokesman said, adding that he had been shifted to the Rangers’ headquarter for probe.

During their raids in the Pak Colony and Naziambad areas, Rangers personnel arrested four suspects. Two of them, Furqan alias Shooter and Abu Bakar, were allegedly involved in target killing and extortion activities, while the two others, Mohammed Ibrahim alias Hyderi and Sikander, were involved in motorcycle theft and cell phone snatching cases, the spokesman said.

Another suspect, Asif Pathan, was arrested in a raid in the Lyari’s Jackson area. The man is said to be a member of the Lyari gang war and involved in heinous crimes. The spokesman said weapons and looted items were found from Pathan and were later handed over to the police for legal proceedings.

The paramilitary force also busted a gang of robbers in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. Twelve members of the gang were arrested and they were identified as Shahzeb alias Shooni, Sajjad Ali alias Muna, Adam Khan Baloch, Abdul Sattar Baloch, Babar Ali Borhi, Mohammed Asif, Nazeer Ahmed, Waqas Ali, Shahbaz, Danish, Arsalan and Ghulam Murtaza. The arrested men were allegedly involved in snatching motorcycles, mobile phones and cash from citizens.

The gang leader of the group, Ghulam Murtaza, belonged to the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, the spokesman said, adding that Murtaza was also involved in arson, firing, forceful closure of shops and other heinous crimes.