Shikarpur police on Monday claimed to have arrested a tribal chief along with his two sons in Karachi on charges of patronising kidnappers in the kutcha area of Shikarpur district.

The development comes a day after two policemen, a private guard of an SHO and a private photographer working with police were killed in an anti-bandit operation in the Garhi Tegho area of Shikarpur. Police had claimed to have killed six kidnappers during the operation.

Shikarpur police in collaboration with local police conducted a raid in Karachi's Gulistan-i-Jauhar area and detained Sardar Tegho Khan Teghani along with his two sons Imran and Abdul Fatah, a police spokesperson confirmed.

The arrests were made after a First Information Report was lodged at Napur Kot police station in Shikarpur against nominated kidnappers on charges of terrorism and murder of three police personnel during the operation on May 23.

The FIR lodged on behalf of the state through a police inspector, Syed Amir Ali Shah, alleged that Sardar Teghani and his two sons were "patronising kidnappers" in his native area of Garhi Tegho.

It said contingents of police conducted a raid in Garhi Tegho for the recovery of two kidnapped persons, Inayatullah and Naqeebullah Pathan, when the nominated kidnappers attacked chained police armoured personnel carrier (APC) with rockets, resulting in the deaths of three policemen.

Police admitted that after coming under attack, the APC could not move and other policemen had to rescue the policemen in the vehicle. Curiously, the police FIR was silent about the killing of six kidnappers during the encounter.

Meanwhile, Shikarpur SSP Ameer Saud Magsi reportedly told media that the blood of the martyred policemen would not go in vain. He said the operation against the kidnappers was still ongoing and he was personally monitoring it.

Reports said that the bandits had recently kidnapped eight people and kept them in the riverine area of Garhi Tegho. Four of them were released by the bandits on Saturday night.

Police launched the operation along with an APC but bandits fired shots of anti-aircraft guns at the APC from close range. This damaged the APC and killed the four people, including two policemen, present inside the APC.

The bandits captured the APC and shared its video through different WhatsApp groups to claim “victory”.

It was learnt that police had reached the area following contacts with the bandits who wanted to hand over the hostages to police, provided the latter released their female relatives who had been picked up by police to build pressure on the criminals.