Karachi police on Saturday claimed to have detained three suspects over charges of killing the director of a private academic institute on main Stadium Road a day earlier.

“Police arrested three suspects after receiving a tip-off,” said Gulshan SP Maroof Usman, adding that one of the suspects was the facilitator for the two who had attempted to rob the victim.

“The suspects were drug addicts who resorted to firing during an attempted robbery,” he said, adding that the facilitator used to give pistols to the suspects on "rent".

During the initial probe, two of the suspects — identified as Rustam Path and Ibrahim Bengali — had confessed to committing 22 robberies in the metropolis, he said. He added that their facilitator, identified as Zakir, used to get 50pc of the money from the looted valuables.

He said that Rustam had opened fire on the professor's car while Ibrahim was riding a motorcycle. He said that the two had also confessed to looting three others, including a woman, before killing the victim.

He added that Zakir had a criminal history and had been arrested and sent to prison in the past. The suspects recorded their statement before the investigators, stating that they opened fire on the car after the victim did not stop.

The SP said that the suspects were arrested within 24 hours and vowed "exemplary punishment" for them.

Meanwhile, DIG East Saqib Ismail Memon said that initially one of the alleged killers was arrested after taking action based on a tip-off. The suspect then led officials to his accomplice who was also arrested, he said.

He said that the suspects had returned the pistol used in the incident to the facilitator who had been arrested.

The DID added that the murder weapon had been sent to the police's forensic science laboratory.