Couple among eight held for drug peddling

KARACHI: The District South police on Sunday claimed to have arrested eight suspects, including a couple, allegedly involved in drug peddling.

District South SSP Sheraz Nazeer informed media persons during a news conference at his office on Sunday that the District South police seized a huge quantity of drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, and hashish, from the suspects’ possession. The police also recovered four cars stolen by them, he said.

The officer said one of the arrested suspects, Shahnawaz Tariq, was the mastermind of the gang. The other suspects were identified as Shahrukh Iftikhar, his wife Nadia, alias Aliza, Zaid, alias Zaibi, Ahsan Nadeem, Noman Awan, Asma Rizvia and Sana Mir.

SSP Nazeer claimed that the gang was involved in supplying drugs particularly to the posh localities and educational institutions.

The suspects also confessed to their involvement in theft of cars in various parts of the city, the SSP said, adding that after stealing cars in Karachi, the gang used to sell them in Balochistan and got drugs and cash in exchange for the vehicles.

Police officials said the recovered cars had been stolen within the limits of the Sharea Faisal, Frere and Bahadurabad police stations. The police are looking for the remaining members of the gang and further investigations are under way.

Talking about the Mureed Abbas case, SSP Nazeer said a driver of suspect Atif Zaman, Nadeem, also attempted to commit suicide to avoid investigations and a case of attempted suicide would be registered against him in District East as he lived there. He said the National Accountability Bureau had also been informed about Zaman who had allegedly defrauded several people.