LARKANA: The Larkana police on Tuesday declared arrest of four militants allegedly having links with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and the notorious Hafeez Brohi faction.

Arms and ammunition were seized from them while they were apprehended in different actions, Larkana DIG Abdullah Shaikh, along with SSP Umar Tufail and ASP Dr Imran, told a press conference in his office.

The suspects, produced before the reporters, were identified as Qayyum Brohi, Amanoo Ogahi, Riaz Ogahi and Shoaib Pathan.

Giving details of the suspects’ criminal records, the DIG said that Amanoo Ogahi was the main facilitator in various terrorist activities carried out by the proscribed TTP, LJ, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and other such outfits in upper Sindh.

He carried head money of Rs500,000, the police officer said, adding that he was wanted by police in many cases of arms supplies to terrorist outfits and kidnapping for ransom, besides a case pertaining to the murder of a Rangers deputy superintendent, Mohammed Javed.

According to the DIG, Qayyum Brohi, who was arrested in Shikarpur, is a close associate of Hafeez Brohi — said to be the main character in the Feb 16 suicide bomb blast at the Qalandar shrine in Sehwan. After getting terrorist training in Afghanistan, Qayyum had been operating the Brohi gang in Shikarpur and maintaining contacts with two other known members of the gang, Majeed and Zaid [who had direct links with Hafeez Brohi] while staying in the Kank area of Balochistan. He had been facilitating the entry of suicide bombers from Afghanistan to Sindh and provision of explosives to them, said the DIG.

The police officer said that Qayyum was a close relative of Hafeez Brohi. “The Balochistan police had conducted raids in their province [to lay hands on the suspects] on the leads given by Qayyum Brohi,” DIG Shaikh said.

He said the suspects were believed to be operating in association with the notorious Chottoo gang of Punjab. During interrogation, the suspects confessed to having blown up gas pipelines, rail tracks and high-tension power transmission lines, he added.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2017