November 26, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 27, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 25: Forty vehicles – 12 automobiles and 28 motorbikes – and 47 cellular phones were taken away by Tuesday evening in different parts of the city.

Officials said that in 35 armed hold-ups committed on the busy city streets from dawn to dusk, bandits hijacked five cars and 11 motorcycles, and snatched at gunpoint as many as 18 mobile phones.

They said that dacoits also deprived most of the victims of their cash, jewellery and personal belongings at gunpoint.

The officials said that the cars were snatched at gunpoint within the police precincts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sharea Faisal, Korangi Industrial Area, Sharah-i-Noorjahan and North Nazimabad.

They said that thieves took away seven other cars in the police jurisdictions of Gizri, Gulberg, Mubina Town, Taimuria, North Nazimabad and Site.

The officials said that the motorcycles were snatched at gunpoint in the police limits of Ibrahim Haideri, PIB Colony, Super Market, Gulbahar, Nazimabad, Sharifabad, North Nazimabad, Taimuria, Preedy and Site.

They said that 17 other motorbikes were stolen within the police jurisdiction of Jamshed Quarters, Ferozeabad, Korangi, Awami Colony, Nazimabad, Rizvia, Super Market, Pakistan Bazaar, Nabi Bux, Kharadar, Eidgah, Preedy, Risala, Sharea Faisal and Pak Colony.

Besides, the officials said that as many as 18 cellular phones were snatched at gunpoint and 29 others were stolen in different parts of the city.

They said that 56 vehicles – 11 cars and 45 motorcycles – and 91 cellular phones were taken away across the city on Monday. Of them, 48 mobile phones, 16 motorcycles and five cars were snatched by the bandits at gunpoint.

Stabbed to death

A young man was found with fatal stab wounds at a desolate place near Qayyumabad at around 1am.

The Baloch Colony police said that an Edhi ambulance shifted the victim to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre before the police reached the spot.

Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim, who appeared to be in late teens, died shortly after his arrival at the facility. They said the victim, clad in a light-grey shalwar-qamees, received five stab wounds in his lower torso.

The sources said that the young man died due to profuse bleeding.

The police said that the victim’s moans drew the attention of a watchman at a nearby office who reported the matter to the police and the Edhi ambulance service.

They said that a case (FIR 347/2008) was registered against unknown culprit under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of the state.

Later, the body was kept at an Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth for want of identification.

Shot dead

A 35-year-old man was shot dead in an attack near his residence at Islamic Arcade at Muskan Road.

The Mubina Town police said that the victim, Khurrum, son of Ghulam Rasool, was sitting along with his friends when unidentified motorcyclists shot him dead and fled. They said that the victim was a recovery officer of a bank and he originally hailed from Shikarpur.

The police said that a case (330/2008) against unknown culprits was registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of a victim’s friend, Naveed Iqbal.

Murder, vehicles set ablaze

The Mominabad police registered two different cases against unidentified culprits for killing two people in an attack late on Monday night in Orangi Town.

A PPP worker, Zafar, son of Fazal, was killed and his friend, Zubair, was fatally wounded when they were fired upon near Urdu Chowk at around 11:30pm.

Panic and tension gripped the vicinity following the attack as miscreants set two auto-rickshaws on fire and burnt tyres on the streets.

The case (FIR 452/2008) for the murder of Zafar and torching of the two vehicles against unknown culprits under Sections 302, 34 and 435 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered on the complaint of the victim’s cousin, Malik Akhlaq. Police registered another case (FIR 453/2008) for the murder of Zubair, on the complaint of the victim’s brother-in-law against unknown culprits under Section 302 and 34 of the PPC.