Controversy surrounds police action that killed five ‘robbers’ in DHA

Police on Friday said five robbers were gunned down in an encounter in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

However, controversy surrounded the shootout when a political party’s candidate said one of the killed men, Muhammad Abbas, was her driver. Police sources said Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Javed Akbar Riaz, the chief of the South Range of Karachi Police, had taken notice of the incident and initiated an internal inquiry into the encounter that took place in the wee hours of Friday.

In a statement, police said a patrol team of the Gizri police station spotted a suspicious vehicle, which was a Vigo, at about 4:30am at the 5th Commercial Street, Phase-IV, DHA, Gizri. It said as the suspects saw the police team, they jumped inside a bungalow and when police personnel entered the home to catch them, the suspects opened fire at the police team after which police personnel retaliated, injuring all of them.

It said the police team was taking the injured suspects to hospital when they succumbed to their injuries. Four of them were identified as Muhammad Abbas, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Abid and Muhammad Riaz but the fifth could not be identified immediately.

The statement said weapons, including 30 bore and 9mm pistols, and CNICs were found in their possession. Police said the killed men were members of a notorious gang of robbers who were Saraikis and that their ringleader, Ghulam Mustafa, was among the five robbers killed in Friday’s encounter.

Police said Ghulam Mustafa had earlier been jailed and he was wanted to the Jalalpur Peer Wala and the Dhoorkot police stations of the Punjab police. Police said the gang comprised of 11 members: four of them had been killed and the majority was in jail. About their modus operandi, police said the gang would collect information about bungalows through maids and employees working there before their robbery.

Police said the robbers would carry mechanical instruments to cut windows and thrash family members in the robbery. Police said the robbers would use motorcycle, rickshaw or car and at the time of the robbery, they would switch off their cell phones.

Police said the killed suspects were involved in over 20 robbery cases in the limits of different police stations in Karachi. Police said one of the cases against them were FIR 727/2019 registered at the of Darakhshan police station.

Investigations sources said they were gathering information about the killed suspects’ further criminal record. They said a preliminary investigation revealed that Muhammad Abbas was in contact with Ghulam Abbas and according to the CDR record, 17 calls had recently been dialled by Abbas to make a contact with Ghulam Mustafa.