Mastermind of criminal gang killed in Peshawar: police

PESHAWAR: Police and Counter-Terrorism-Department (CTD) shot dead the mastermind of the Bilal Sabit group during an encounter in Khurasan Camp on the outskirts of the provincial capital, the senior cop said on Tuesday.

Bilal Sabit was shot dead along with another accomplice Imtiaz Ahmad during a joint operation of the Intelligence Bureau and police in Rawalpindi on Monday after he allegedly opened fire on the cops.

“Police along with CTD during an operation in Khurasan Camp on early Tuesday morning shot dead Yasir, a brother of Bilal Basit. Yasir was the mastermind and facilitator of the gang that was operating in several parts of the country,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the group was involved in hundreds of crimes.

The official added the slain Yasir was planning to target police in Peshawar to avenge the killing of his brother in an encounter on Monday.

“However, police and CTD while acting over a tip-off carried out the operation early Tuesday morning and killed him,” said the SSP Operations.

Kashif Aftab said one police constable received a bullet shot by the slain criminal.

However, the cop remained safe as he was hit on the bulletproof jacket.

Police said hand grenades and ammunition were recovered from the spot.

The official said Bilal and his gang were involved in the murder of the station house officer (SHO) of Shahpur, Shakil Khan, as well as an official of the Intelligence Bureau Najeeb in Sarki Gate in May.

He hoped others involved in the murders will be held soon.

The gang was also said to be involved in scores of cases of robberies, car-lifting, attacks on police and other criminal cases and had spread terror in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for a long.

Reports said the gang was also involved in the attack on an additional inspector general on Motorway and the murder of an officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service.

Shahpur SHO Shakil Khan was martyred when he was on his way to the office from home in May. Two armed men who were chasing him had opened fire on his car near the Northern Bypass.

The attackers later came out of the car when the vehicle of the SHO crashed and sprayed the car with more bullets to ensure the cop was dead.

A couple of days before that an assistant sub-inspector of the Intelligence Bureau was martyred and two others were wounded in firing in Sarki locality.

Police later said the two attacks were carried out by the same gang.