KARACHI, May 18: Police on Wednesday released all the 20 suspects rounded up after an exchange of fire between police and gangsters in Hub on Tuesday morning. The suspects, picked up from the scene of the fierce gun battle, had undergone a night-long interrogation before being let off. “We verified their identity and residence, and after establishing that they are locals and not affiliated with any criminal groups, we let them off,” ASP Hub Amir Farooqui said.

On Tuesday morning, police raided a suspected hideout of gangsters which led to a shootout. One police officer and a civilian, besides two suspected gang members, were killed in the clash. Twelve police officials, three Rangers personnel and six civilians were wounded. The ringleader, Rehman Dakait, along with some of his accomplices, however, managed to escape.

Sources said that Rangers, on Wednesday, searched the White House, the hideout of Rehman Dakait, and in a rare and surprising action, razed it to the ground by dynamite blast. Another half-built house, adjacent to it, was also demolished as the same was also allegedly being used by criminals. The Rangers, however, claimed that the house was demolished on the demand of the area people.

Sources in Balochistan government said that the Rangers had carried out the demolition without obtaining permission from the local or provincial authorities. A senior official of the Balochistan government said: “The house was not constructed in violation of building control rules. Even it was not in the name of Rehman Dakait.”

Meanwhile, Col Jamshed Akhter of Abdullah Shah Ghazi Rangers on Wednesday led another raid in the area and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition, PPI adds.

The raid, conducted jointly with the police, resulted in the recovery of one rocket launcher, 54 rockets, 51 rocket secondary (ranging device), six AK47 rifles, 19 pistols and 15,956 SMG/KK rounds of ammunition, according to the Rangers.

In a press briefing at the Rangers Headquarters, Sindh, Col Jamshed said the search operation was conducted at 5am on Wednesday after some arrested criminals revealed relevant information to the Rangers.

“We would continue to chase these criminals,” he said, and refuted the allegation that law-enforcement agencies’ personnel had manhandled women of Zehri Goth during the Tuesday operation.

The Rangers officials confirmed that they had razed there hideout in the operation, saying: “People of that area told us that they were being tortured and killed by the gangsters.”

In a similar operation in the interior of Sindh, the officials informed newsmen, one rocket launcher with ammunition, one machinegun, three G3 rifles, six AK47 rifles, 20 grenades and a huge quantity of ammunition were recovered. They identified the place of operation as Goth Labano, falling in the limits of Lakhi police station in Shikarpur district.