KARACHI, Aug 24: An alleged gangster and his accomplice were shot dead in what police claimed to be an encounter in a densely populated locality of old city area in Lyari on Wednesday.

The encounter was a part of the crackdown launched in January last year on two criminal gangs, one led by Rehman Dakait and the other by Arshad Pappu.

Acting upon a tip off, a police party headed by TPO Lyari Omar Shahid raided Gul Mohammad Lane in Kalakot to arrest one, Mullah Sultan, believed to be a close associate of Arshad Pappu. However, as the team reached there, some gangsters resorted to heavy firing which was returned.

DSP Irfan Bahadur, a member of the policy party, said that during the encounter, the gangsters also hurled a grenade but it did not explode as its pin was not pulled out fully.

Two of the gangsters died on the spot after receiving multiple bullet wounds. They were later identified as Mullah Sultan and Zulfiqar Baloch alias Kaloo. Two Kalashnikov rifles, two grenades, three TT pistols and 500 rounds were recovered from them.

The DSP claimed that Mullah Sultan was involved in more than 20 cases and had been receiving bhatta from shopkeepers in the area on behalf of Arshad Pappu. Mullah was the only member of the Pappu gang who dared to confront with Rehman Dakait, the DSP added.

According to the police, 283 people, including Anwar Bhaijan, a prominent social worker and leader of a Baloch nationalist party, and six policemen, have so far been killed in the gang war which had began in 2003 in Lyari.

Rehman Dakait and Arshad Pappu are involved in a number of cases of murder, drug peddling, extortion, kidnapping for ransom.