Police said the suspect was arrested at her clinic in Korangi’s Chakra Goth, where she had introduced herself as a doctor rather than a midwife. — Reuters (File Photo)

KARACHI: Police on Thursday arrested a suspected midwife, said to be posing as a lady doctor, in the case of the five foetuses found in a garbage dump in Manzoor Colony on Feb 14.

The foetuses,  two in jars and three in plastic bags,  were found in a garbage dump in Sector E, Street 11, Manzoor Colony, near a storm drain, within the remit of the Mehmoodabad police station.

Police held a press conference on Thursday night at the Mehmoodabad police station to announce the arrest of the woman identified as Nuzhat Aslam.

SHO Rao Muqeem said the suspect was arrested at her clinic in Korangi’s Chakra Goth, where she had introduced herself as a doctor rather than a midwife.

He said that earlier she ran a clinic in PECHS, where she also carried out abortions among other professional activities.

“She used to preserve foetuses in formalin to sell them to shops dealing in goods for medical education,” the SHO said. However, after a dispute with her landlord in PECHS, she moved to Chakra Goth, where she opened a clinic.

Answering a question as to how police got the tip-off about the woman, the SHO said an eyewitness had identified a man, Hameed, as having tossed the foetuses into the dump.

Police picked up Hameed, the driver of the suspected woman, the SHO explained.

The police said another accomplice of the woman, identified as Muhammad Iqbal, was at large.

The police had registered a case (FIA 25/2012) under Sections 329 (concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body), 338-B (isqat-i-janin or cause a pregnant woman to miscarry) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified persons on behalf of the state at the Mehmoodabad police station.

Following the recovery of the foetuses, senior doctors had concluded that since the foetuses were kept in formalin, they must be related to medical education institutions.