Three police officials were among eight arrested as the Sindh Rangers and police on Saturday busted a gang in Karachi involved in the creation of fake arms and driver's licenses, degrees, and the selling of counterfeit weapons.

The Rangers and police received a tip-off about a group in Liaquatabad involved in the selling of fake arms licenses, and the buying and selling of illegal weapons.

They conducted a targeted operation in the area and arrested one Faizan Khan, a Rangers press release said.

During investigation, the suspect ─ who was found to be in possession of five counterfeit arms licences ─ revealed that he was part of an organised group involved in the creation of fake arms licenses for millions of rupees. He told the Rangers that members of his group had been at large for a number of years, according to the handout.

In the light of his revelations, the Rangers and police conducted another operation to arrest seven more members of the gang.

The arrested men include Sindh Reserve Police Assistant Sub Inspector Umer Daraz Khan, Station House Officer (SHO) Syed Nadir Ali Shah and Syed Shahid Ali, a police officer of the Special Branch.

SHO Nadir Shah had travelled to Peshawar about 30 times to buy counterfeit weapons, the Rangers press release said.

Apart from these officers, Zohar Kamal, Saddam Siddiqui and Kamran were also arrested. Despite being jailed several times, Kamran had been involved in providing counterfeit weapons to Nadir Shah, the Rangers said.

According to the press release, police and Rangers found nine different counterfeit weapons, magazines and bullets during their operation.

The suspects also had in their possession 140 fake arms licences, 233 fake official documents, fake degrees of intermediate and graduation, and seven fake driving licenses, the press release said.

The suspects were also in the possession of counterfeit seals of hundreds of government institutions, including the seals of the deputy commissioners of Thatta, Qambar, Shahdadkot, Jafarabad, Lasbella, Nawabshah, Quetta, Malakand and Jacobabad; seals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various banks, universities, educational boards, Rangers special task cells, senior police officers, and the seals of many other senior government officers, the handout read.

Furthermore, the suspects also possessed equipment used to manufacture fake government documents, including computers, card printing and cutting machines, lamination machines, stationery and printing machines.

This group was involved in the creation of these fake documents for the past 10 years and during the investigation, the suspects revealed that they had manufactured 7,000 to 8,000 fake arms licenses, 3,500 to 4,000 fake academic credentials, hundreds of driving licenses and the No Objection Certificates of various governmental departments.

The Director General Rangers Maj Gen Muhammad Saeed congratulated the Pakistan Rangers Sindh and Sindh Police team for the successful operation and appreciated their professionalism and teamwork.