Three of five men who raped woman during burglary held

Orangi Town police have arrested three of the five men who gang-raped a woman as they robbed a house in Surjani Town earlier this month.

The five entered the house in Surjani Town’s Sector 4-A in the wee hours of March 1, injured the owner, Naseeb Zada, with the help of a metal object and held him hostage at gunpoint.

They then raped Naseeb’s wife one by one, and took away Rs25,000, clothes and a cellphone, said Orangi Town Division SP Abid Ali Baloch at a press conference in his office on Tuesday. The husband registered a case against the suspects at Surjani Town Police Station.

Later, the District West’s senior superintendent of police visited the house and promised Naseeb that the culprits would be arrested soon. He directed the Surjani Town police to take action and provide all technical support by putting the robbed cell-phone on tracking.

SP Baloch said that through technical assistance, police came to know that a man, Abdul Hameed, son of Abdus Sattar, had inserted a SIM into the cell-phone that the robbers had taken away from Naseeb’s house.

He said police traced Hameed and learned that he was a resident of Manghopir’s Mushki Para area. Police called him for interrogation, and he told them that he had gone to buy a used cellphone from a shop, Al-Hamd Communication, at the Sareena Mobile Mall.

He said the owner of the shop had inserted his SIM into the phone for checking, but he could not purchase the phone due to a high price. A Surjani police team visited Al-Hamd Communication, where the shop owner, Yasir, said he had bought the cellphone from a man, Naqeeb. He gave the police a copy of Naqeeb’s CNIC.

On the basis of the home address mentioned on the CNIC, police raided the man’s house and arrested him. SP Baloch said police interrogated Naqeeb, who disclosed the names of his four companions. He added that police raided the houses of Naqeeb’s companions and arrested two of them, Naveed, son of Akhtar and Usman, son of Muhammad Rasheed.

Police also claimed to have seized a 30-bore pistol along with bullets used in the crime from Usman’s possession. Police collected DNA samples of the suspects, and sent them for tests.

SP Baloch expressed the hope that the two remaining suspects of the gang would be arrested soon. He said police had also recovered four mobile phones from the possession of the suspects, and they were trying to reach their owners. The suspects were said to have also admitted their involvement in incidents of street crime in various parts of the city.