KARACHI, May 6: The Anti-Car Lifting Cell on Sunday released five of the 20 suspects who had been picked up after a deadly ‘encounter’ with suspected carjackers in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Friday.

The police said that they had grilled and scanned the detained suspects and five of them were found innocent and had been let off. The ACLC had raided a bungalow on a tip-off and picked up 20 suspects besides seizing cars and weapons. An assistant sub-inspector and a suspect were killed during the exchange of fire. The so-called encounter was made questionable as many of the policemen in the raiding party were in civvies.

The ACLC claimed that both the cars found at the spot turned out to be stolen in various locations.

Referring to the alleged encounter, SSP of ACLC Sanaullah Abbasi said: “According to the police rules, an inquiry to ascertain the facts is conducted after every encounter and we are holding an inquiry into the shootout that took place on Friday to know the facts.”

He said that a thorough investigation and interrogation of the arrested suspects to arrest their accomplices was also under way. Besides, he said that the ACLC had arrested 19 alleged carjackers during various raids and recovered 17 stolen cars from them. He said that a notorious carjacker, Sunaro, was also apprehended and was being interrogated.

Mr Abbasi said the 220 stolen cars, recovered during the past one month, were handed over to their legal owners. “We have also disbursed Rs1.2 million among the police staff of the ACLC on account of expenses for investigating various cases,” he added.