Two street criminals jailed for 11 years

karachi: An anti-terrorism court has sentenced two men to a collective 11 years’ imprisonment in cases pertaining to an encounter with police and possessing illicit arms.

Shoukat Khan and Shamsuddin were found guilty of opening fire at police with the intention to kill and possessing illegal weapons in the Scheme 33 area in 2021.

The ATC-XX judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, ruled that the prosecution succeeded in proving the charges against the accused, awarding them a total of eleven years’ imprisonment.

They were ordered to pay a Rs40,000 fine each or undergo additional nine-month imprisonment.

The accused, who appeared on bail, were subsequently taken into custody and remanded to jail to serve out the sentences that shall run concurrently.

State prosecutor Iqbal Meo contended that on December 2, 2021, a police party on patrol in the Scheme 33 area spotted two accused on a motorcycle, adding that when signalled to stop, they attempted to flee, opening fire on the police with the intention of murdering them.

He said that during the ensuing crossfire, a passer-by, Mehmooda, suffered a gunshot wound. The accused’s act caused panic, terror, and fear among the citizens, who managed to catch them, he said and added that the police rescued the accused from the crowd, who were beating them, and recovered two 30-bore pistols from their possession.

The prosecutor argued that there was sufficient evidence that linked the accused with the commissioning of the offence, requesting the judge to punish them as per the law.

On the contrary, the accused denied charges, saying that they had been falsely implicated in the case.

Three FIRs were lodged at the Site Super Highway Industrial Area police station under sections 353, 324, and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 23(i)A of the Sindh Arms Act read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.