Over 35 dacoits flee as police, Rangers clear Kachha

LAHORE: Over three dozen dacoits escaped the Kachha area a night before a joint operation of the Punjab Police and Rangers, it was learnt.

According to an intelligence agency report, Pat, Lund and Sikhani gangs had been active in the Kachha area. Earlier, the two of these gangs — Pat and Lund — had entered into an agreement with the Punjab Police whereby the two guaranteed an end to their criminal activities while police allowed them to stay in the area. The report says the Sikhani gang shifted to Sindh Kachha area in 2018 while Lakhani gang had already shifted there some six years ago. According to the report, the law enforcers decided to launch an operation after eight or nine members of these two gands including Qabil Sikhani, Ghulam Qadir, Ghaman Gopang, Shabeer Mazari, Ahmed Bakhsh Mazari, Mattara Mazari (brother of Qabil Sikhani) and others established their camps in Kachha Karachi area.

However, the dacoits, when their informers informed them about the operation, escaped. Talking to The News, DPO Rahimyar Khan, Umar Salamat said the police, after having been tipped off, had planned to move against the Sekhani Gang which was entrenched in Kacha Karachi (Kacha Rizwani) area recently.

He said that there were intelligence reports that around 12-13 members of the gang had moved from their hideouts in Sindh to the Kacha Karachi area. He said the operation was executed by the Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan police with the help of Rangers and army personnel along with the support of intelligence agencies.

The DPO said that when the police entered the area, it fought a pitched battle against the members of the gang who were forced to flee the area. He said one police official was wounded in the encounter. The police had established three posts in the Kacha Karachi area and was combing the rest of the suspected hideouts of other gangs who usually come back to this part of the Kacha in the southern Punjab before the flood season for criminal activities, robberies, kidnapping for ransom, extortions, etc.

Umar Salamat further added the fact that the Sekhani Gang and the likes kept a liaison with the Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) and other anti-state elements could not be ruled out. Talking to The News, Ranjanpur DPO Haroon Rasheed also confirmed the details provided by DPO Umar Salamat.