Three suspected criminals shot dead in encounters with police

Three different encounters between police and alleged criminals left three suspects dead and a suspect and a policeman wounded on Thursday. A citizen was also allegedly injured by a robber.

The Sachal police said that two criminals were killed during an encounter with law enforcers near Sher Goth on the Super Highway. They said a citizen was also wounded by the firing of those robbers, adding that the deceased and the injured were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

SHO Haroon Korai said the robbers were trying to escape after injuring the citizen, namely Shah Muhammad, over offering resistance to a mugging bid, when a crowd of people gathered on the spot and surrounded the suspects.

The officer said the police also arrived on the scene after a local informed them on the 15 helpline, adding that the robbers opened fire on the police and tried to escape. Korai said the law enforcers shot back and during an exchange of fire both the robbers were gunned down, adding that the suspects were identified as Amir and Subhan, who hailed from the Sadiqabad area of Faisalabad.

The officer said the police also impounded a motorbike and seized weapons and a mobile phone, the latter of which, he added, the suspects had snatched from the injured citizen.

Another shoot-out

The New Karachi Industrial Area police said that a suspect was killed and a policeman wounded during a shoot-out, adding that the deceased and the injured were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Police said law enforcers were on routine patrol when they tried to intercept two suspects on a motorbike, adding that the suspects tried to escape by opening fire on the police, injuring 25-year-old Israr Gulzar. Officials said the police shot back and killed one of the suspects, adding that the law enforcers seized weapons found from the person of the deceased.

‘Fake case’

Sohrab Goth police said that two suspects, including an injured one, were arrested after an exchange of fire. They identified the injured as Humayun Murtaza and his accomplice as Shoaib. Officials also claimed to have seized weapons from them.

Following the incident, however, a group of men calling themselves Murtaza’s friends arrived at the Sohrab Goth police station, where they shot a video and circulated it on social media. In the video clip they claimed that their group of six friends had stopped at a paan shop on their way home in the wee hours after having dinner at a restaurant on the Super Highway.

They said that after getting paan, Murtaza was speeding away on his motorbike when the police intercepted him near the Dua Hotel, adding that before the man could stop his two-wheeler, the law enforcers followed him and opened fire on him. The alleged friends said Murtaza suffered a bullet injury and the police then arrested him and Shoaib, adding that the law enforcers later claimed that they had arrested criminals. They claimed in the video that they had a receipt from the restaurant where they had their dinner, and that the police were trying to implicate the arrested men in a fake case.