SUKKUR: The SSP of Hyderabad, Irfan Baloch, told reporters in Tando Jam that the crime rate in Hyderabad had been reduced by 95 percent while not a single case of kidnapping for ransom was reported in Hyderabad in the last 18 months. He said this after having enquired after the health of a journalist, Shoukat Panhwar, who had been injured by some robbers the other day. Panhwar had offered resistance to the robbers while they were robbing the passengers of a bus, and he even managed to catch one of the robbers. Meanwhile, the SSP of Khairpur, Azfar Hussain Mahaisar, in his monthly report said that so far 66 criminals had been eliminated in 25 police encounters. He said that the operation against the criminals would continue.
