KARACHI: Law enforcement agencies on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a dismissed policeman for his alleged involvement in the targeted killings of three firemen at the Korangi fire station.

In a joint intelligence-based raid in Manzoor Colony, police and Rangers arrested Bilal Zafar and recovered a pistol from his custody.

A Rangers spokesperson said in a brief that the suspect along with his accomplices shot dead three firemen — Mehbood, Amir and Irshad — inside the fire station and a case was registered against killers under anti-terrorism law.

The statement stated that suspect Zafar had previously been arrested and sent to prison in a murder case.

Korangi SSP (Investigation) Arbaiz Ali Abbasi told Dawn that the held suspect was a dismissed policeman and he had worked with the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

He said that his father, Bashir Farooqi, was also a fireman who was murdered a couple of years ago.

The suspect had allegedly killed Fareed, an official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, to avenge the murder of his father in 2015, the SSP said, adding that the suspect was arrested in the case, dismissed from the police and sent to prison from where he was released in December 2021.

During grilling, the held suspect told investigators that he killed the three firemen as he had suspicions that some other persons were also involved in his father’s murder.

However, the SSP said the police were further investigating the case.

He said that the suspect was an educated person as he got a degree in international relations from a university in the city.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2022