KARACHI: The plan to kill the Chinese national, who had been gunned down in the city last month, was made inside his own company, a top police official told Dawn on Thursday.

Chen Zhu, 45, had been working for a shipping firm named Cosco Shipping Lines Company Limited in a senior position. He was shot dead while Ye Fan who was accompanying him remained unhurt when a lone gunman travelling in a car opened indiscriminate fire on their car parked near the Zamzama Park on Feb 5.

The Chinese citizens were purchasing vegetables and fruits from a vendor when the incident occurred.

“The investigation team is moving in the right direction and [there is] credible information that internal matters of the shipping firm were behind the killing,” revealed Counter-Terrorism Department Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.

“So far, the results achieved in the investigation are helping us unearth the motive of the murder,” said the counter-terror force chief. He pointed out that forensic examination of spent bullet casings recovered from the crime scene was carried out which revealed that the same weapon was not used in any previous offence.

He said the police have collected CCTV footage and geofencing data from the nearby places of the crime scene.

Profile of shipping firm

Mr Abbasi pointed out that Cosco was established in December 1994 at a home in Lalazar near a hotel.

It is a joint venture of Chinese and Pakistani nationals as there are three Pakistani shareholders in the firm.

It is involved in international container and bulk shipping business and its branch is located in Gulberg, Lahore. The authorities have provided three police constables for security of Chinese nationals working for the firm.

Recommendations

Following the killing, the CTD submitted recommendations to the authorities concerned for enhancing security of the Chinese nationals working for both CPEC and non-CPEC related projects in Pakistan.

The CTD suggested that CPEC management companies should be asked to increase the number of private security guards in addition to the government security.

The management of companies employing Chinese nationals other than CPEC-related projects should make their own security arrangements.

It has been pointed that there were 11 CPEC related and 132 non-CPEC related projects in Sindh where over 4,000 Chinese nationals were working. For their security, the CTD report revealed that the district police have provided 797 police constables, 1,572 personnel of Special Security Unit (SPU), 889 Army soldiers and 820 Rangers personnel.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2018