KARACHI: The Malir police on Wednesday claimed to have apprehended a suspected militant linked with a banned nationalist organisation.

The Steel Town police arrested a suspect identified as Fahad Soomro, alias Allah Dino, during a raid in a Gulshan-i-Hadeed locality, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar.

The held suspect was affiliated with the Sindh Liberation Army, he added.

The SLA militant was allegedly involved in the killing of Tahir Randhawa, who was gunned down when he was leading a ‘Long live Pakistan’ rally in Gulshan-i-Hadeed in 2010.

Besides, Fahad Soomro was also involved in other murders, attempted murders and extortion, the Malir SSP claimed.

‘Drug addicts’ held in Old Golimar

More than 250 suspected drug addicts, including 20 women, were rounded up during a ‘massive’ operation launched in the crime-infested Old Golimar area by the Karachi Central zone police under a special task force established by the DIG West after the ‘failure’ of local police to take effective action against the illegal business in the neighbourhood, it emerged on Wednesday.

Informed sources said DIG West Zulfiqar Larik had recently established the task force under the supervision of SSP Central Muqaddas Haider and comprising Gulbarg SP Bashir Ahmed Brohi, as drug-related crimes had claimed several lives in Old Golimar, linked with gang warfare elements of Lyari.

“The task force during the past two consecutive days carried out a massive operation in Pak Colony’s Old Golimar [area] and detained around 250 suspects including 20 women. Most of them are drug addicts,” said Central SSP Muqaddas Haider.

During the operation, several drug dens were demolished and homes of peaceful citizens were vacated, added the officer.

SSP Haider said that several peaceful citizens had abandoned their homes and fled to safer places during a turf war between gangs in the recent past. The abandoned buildings were then occupied by the gangsters and drug addicts, he said.

Many of the homes were also turned into ‘drug dens’, he added.

Since most of the detained persons were drug addicts, the police had decided to hand them over to Edhi Foundation for their proper rehabilitation, the officer said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2017