KARACHI: A suspected robber was shot dead in an alleged encounter in Defence Housing Authority, police said on Saturday.

The Darakhshan police said that two armed men snatched cell phones and other valuables from some people at Bara Bukhari in Phase-VI late on Friday night. As they were fleeing on their motorcycle a police patrol reached the scene, where area people informed the police about muggers.

They said that the police along with some citizens chased them and the muggers opened indiscriminate fire. Both the police and an armed citizen returned fire and the bullets hit one of the suspects who fell from the motorbike. His accomplice, however, rode away.

They said that the wounded suspect was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The deceased, who was in his early 20s, could not be identified.

The police claimed to have recovered two snatched cell phones and one pistol from his custody. South-SSP Syed Asad Raza said that the police registered two cases — one on the complaint of the state and other one lodged by a robbery victim — against the escaped suspect.

The victim stated that he lived in Clifton and was on his way home using a ride-hailing motorbike service when armed pillion riders intercepted them at Bara Bukhari. They snatched cell phone from him and the Bykea rider at gunpoint and fled. He stated that after depriving of his cell phone the Bykea rider started weeping and this drew attention of some people sitting at a nearby restaurant.

‘Smart police car’

Police authorities on Saturday deployed a ‘smart car’ to patrol Sharea Faisal near FTC to control crimes as a ‘pilot project’.

The SSP-South said that the smart car was equipped with latest features such as ‘automatic number plate recognition’ (ANPR), facial recognition (FR), advanced surveillance cameras and localised recording. It was also fitted with digital modular CRO device developed by the Sindh police to identify possible criminals, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2023