LARKANA/SUKKUR: Five gangsters, four of them carrying different amounts of head money, were killed in a fierce gun battle in the katcha area of Durrani Mahar taluka in Kandhkot-Kashmore district, Larkana DIG Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh said in a press statement on Saturday.

The dreaded outlaws were wanted by police in the infamous ambush that had left 12 members of the Chachar tribe in the same area on May 16, he said, adding that scores of cases of heinous crimes had been registered against the gangsters at various police stations.

The DIG citing the crime sheets of the killed dacoits said that a head money of Rs10m on Takkar Sabzoi, Rs3m on Jagan alias Jaggu Sabzoi and Rs1m each on Sabul alias Sabo Sabzoi and Saddam Sabzoi was announced by the Sindh government. He identified another dead dacoit as Ali Hassan Sabzoi alias Sodoro. The gun battle took place near the fortified hideout of a gang led by Jeand Jagirani within the jurisdiction of the Durrani Mahar police station, he said.

Police call it breakthrough in months-long operation to root out ‘dacoit culture’ from Larkana

The cases against these gangsters pertained to murder, kidnapping for ransom, encounter with police, extortion, dacoities and robberies etc.

“The bodies and firearms, seized from the dead outlaws, are in police custody,” the DIG said on Saturday evening.

He specifically mentioned that police constables Ghulam Hyder Bhayo and Sajjad Khaskheli were martyred in the gangsters’ attacks on Oct 29, 2019 and June 14, 2021, respectively.

The Larkana DIG said that the gangs had regularly been threatening contractors of the Ghotki-Kandhkot bridge and the area’s police command through their videos on the social media.

Police sources said that 58 cases of heinous crimes had been registered against Takkar, 32 cases against Jaggu, 10 cases against Sabo, seven cases against Saddam and six cases against Sodoro at different police stations of Kandhkot-Kashmore district.

According to a spokesman for the district police, the area had remained cordoned off since the May 16 incident and movement of gangsters had constantly been monitored and checked. Many encounters with them had taken place and some of them were either killed or arrested during the period. The fresh gun battle took place after Kandhkot SSP Amjad Ali Shaikh received information about presence of the ringleaders at a specific place and ordered a forceful operation against the Jagirani and Subzoi gangs.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, DIG Shaikh said the breakthrough in the ongoing police operations against dacoits’ gangs in several districts of upper Sindh was continuation of strategy to wipe out gangs from the katcha area.

“We are rooting out the dacoit culture from the Larkana police range and putting permanent police signature in the area. First we wiped out Teghanis’ gangs in Shikarpur, then Usman Wako’s gang in Qambar and now Sabzois’ gang in Kandhkot,” he pointed out.

The DIG claimed that cases of kidnapping for ransom and highway robberies had been brought to nil. Law and order in the region stood restored, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2021