Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a gang of street criminals in Karachi who had allegedly been looting people near Jinnah Terminal by posing as police personnel, a senior police officer said.

Korangi SSP (Investigation) Captain Haider Raza said a Model Colony police party got word from police Madadgar-15 helpline on their wireless set when victim Muhammad Naeem complained that some suspects had robbed him.

Acting on this information, the police party started snap checking and saw what appeared to be the Corolla car mentioned in the complaint, coming towards them in Model Colony.

The police signalled for them to stop but the suspects sped up the vehicle in their bid to flee. This immediately prompted the police party to start a chase.

The suspects resorted to firing and in "self-defence", the police also responded with fire as a result of which two suspects, Jamal Dost Muhammad and Amir Younus aka Toofan, were arrested in a wounded state, while the third suspect, Inaam Zohair, was also arrested from the car.

Two other suspects who were also present in the car managed to escape from the scene, taking advantage of the darkness, said SSP Raza.

The police claimed to have recovered one repeater gun, a pistol and commando caps with police insignia from the suspected robbers. Additionally, fake walkie-talkies were also recovered from their possession along with the looted cash of the complainant.

The injured were shifted to Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre for treatment.

“They are members of an 'Iranian' gang who used to loot cars near the airport by presenting themselves as police personnel,” claimed the senior official.

SSP Raza recalled that this gang of "Iranians" had been active in street crimes near the airport, in Model Colony, and Khokhrapar. It had become "inactive or dormant" when its members were arrested in the recent past.

However, for the last five months, the gang members had become active again and had been living in a rented house in Khokhrapar.

“They are members of a professional gang,” the officer stated.

He revealed that the police had been working to arrest members of this gang since the past one-and-a-half-month when a family travelling in a car was robbed near the airport.