RAHIM YAR KHAN: While police claimed arrest of the main members of the Sukhani dacoits gang during the ongoing grand operation against criminals in the Katcha area, the gang’s ringleader, in a video clip on social media, termed the entire exercise a “drama”.

A video clip uploaded on social media, shows Qabil Sukhani, the head of Sukhani gang, along with other criminals, eating watermelons, melons and enjoying soft drinks.

The nonchalant ringleader claims in the video in local language that they were getting uninterrupted supply of fruits and drinks from a nearby city.

The footage shows some criminals sitting on the ground at an outhouse, where a tractor and some motorcycles are parked, while solar plates can also be seen in the background.

It also shows a structure that looks like a “firing post”.

Qabil Sukhani, who is said to be a member of Mazari tribe, in the footage challenges police to come at his outhouse, saying “you will see the result”.

He also claims in the clip that police were wasting their time and weapons and “staging a drama” in the name of “operation” in the katcha area.

Meanwhile, another social media video clip shows some members of Indhar gang, allegedly present in Katcha area, firing on the police.

According to sources in Katcha area, Sukhani gang was even more dangerous than Chhotu gang, whose ringleader had surrendered, along with his whole tribe, to the army.

The sources say that since police launched a grand operation in the Katcha area, all the dacoit gangs operating there were supporting each other and coordinating.

Meanwhile, the police could not so far recover the four traders of Multan and as many other residents of Machka, who had been kidnapped by dacoits, besides a youth of Zahirpir, despite passage of a month.

The families of the kidnapped persons have repeatedly told police that dacoits were regularly sending them videos showing their loved ones being tortured and demanding ransom money.

The mother of the kidnapped youth of Zahipir, Ghulam Arbi, says her son was in custody of dacoits for the last one month. She says the criminals were demanding Rs10 million for his release.

She says that despite registering an FIR of the kidnapping, Zahirpir police were not proactively trying to recover the youth.

Meanwhile, district police spokesperson Saif Ali Wains claimed that on the eleventh day of the grand operation in the Katcha area, police killed three criminals belonging to Machi gang.

He said eight members of Lathani gang and four of Kokani gang, along with three other criminals had been arrested from the areas of Samsheer Mazari, Fareeda Kokani, Noz Band and Basti Hassan Malik. Police were using the latest long-range weapons and armoured vehicles in the operation, he added.

He said during the operation, hideouts of Lathani gang in Katcha Karachi area were demolished and a huge quantity of the latest smuggled weapons was recovered from the criminals’ hideouts.

The spokesperson also claimed that during the operation, police had cleared thousands of acres in Katcha area of the criminals and were camping there to stop them from reclaiming the area.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023