KARACHI, July 17: The Sindh government has worked out a list of over 200 hardened criminals involved in cases of murder, kidnapping for ransom, dacoities, highway robberies and other heinous crimes for years and could not be arrested as yet. Head money against each of them has now been fixed at Rs0.1 million to Rs2.5 million, reliable sources told Dawn on Thursday.

The criminals were mostly operating in the districts of Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Shahdadkot, Kamber, Ghotki and Dadu. Gangs of such outlaws operating across Sindh have their hideouts mostly in katcha areas.

Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza at a press conference addressed by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Tuesday last had vowed to unearth all gangs of criminals, and stated that a list of hardened criminals was being prepared with the help of the police record.

The home minister said that the law-enforcement agencies in a hot pursuit even into the thick forests of Sindh had crippled the outlaws’ movement and resultantly, a remarkable decline in highway robberies in the past few months had been noted. Several gangs involved in kidnapping for ransom and highway robberies had been busted recently, he pointed out.

The list to be notified with head money against notorious outlaws with in next 72 hours carries 119 names of the criminals operating in the Sukkur Range alone, according to sources, who said that the list carried 30 names of those operating in Khairpur district. The number of criminals with tags in Ghotki is 70, as the list reveals.

The highest sum of the head-money i.e. Rs2.5 million has been fixed for Buddho, whose area of operation is Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts. Some others with a head-money of Rs2 million are Jhandi alias Shahnawaz, Niaz alias Niazoo Khoso, Sultan Shah, Najam Misrani Jatoi and Quadri Chachar.

Malook Chandio, Shaman Jatoi, Tariq Chandio, Aslam Chandio, Shah Nawaz Brohi, Usman Vakko, Gulbahar, Jalal alias Jaloo, Rasheed Rind, Papoo alias Ali Murad Esani, Kazim Jatoi, Abdullah Dhamio, Ali Sher Dhamio, Gulsher Chachar, Kajlo Bullo and Ghulam Qadir alias Qadri Chachar carry Rs1.5 million to Rs1 million of head-money.