• Half a dozen criminals shot dead in four ‘encounters’
• Boy lost his life in crossfire in Korangi
• Citizen killed at meat shop by armed robbers in Shah Faisal Colony

KARACHI: Six suspected robbers and a teenage boy were shot dead in separate encounters across the metropolis on Wednesday.

However, despite proactive policing resulting in increasing number of shootouts and ‘encounters’ in the metropolis, robbers appeared more ruthless and carried on with their looting spree and took the life of a 55-year-old man in Shah Faisal Colony on Wednesday.

In a Korangi locality, two suspected robbers were gunned down while a teenage boy was killed after being caught in crossfire.

Fourteen-year-old Kashan, who worked at a tyre puncture shop and caught in the crossfire, was taken to a police station first instead of hospital and apparently died due to excessive bleeding.

As a video of the wounded teenager at a police station went viral on social media, the police issued a statement and blamed the driver of an ambulance for ‘negligence’ for not taking the injured teenager to a hospital on time despite insistence of the policeman.

Korangi-SSP Hassan Sardar said that the encounter took place between the Awami Colony police and the robbers at Coast Guard Chowrangi when police signalled them to stop but they opened fire.

“One suspect, identified as Rab Nawaz, was gunned down on the spot while his accomplice, Saad, was arrested in wounded condition. The wounded suspect also died later,” he said.

The SSP claimed that the teenager was killed in the firing carried out by the killed robbers.

Tyre shop owner Imran told the media that Kashan was working at his shop for the last four years. During the encounter, people ran for shelter while Kashan was working at the counter of the shop when a bullet hit him, he said.

The victim along with his family came from Hyderabad to Karachi five years ago.

As the video of the injured teenager went viral on social media, a police spokesperson said in a statement: “After the police encounter, the ambulance driver brought the injured citizen to the police station instead of taking him to a hospital. Because of negligence of the ambulance driver, the injured citizen could not reach the hospital and died.”

Later, the ambulance driver said in a video statement that area people told him to take the injured to the police station.

Four other suspected robbers gunned down

In old city area, two suspected robbers were gunned down and a policeman was wounded in an encounter.

The Eidgah police said that the encounter took place on Chand Bibi Road near Sheesha Market.

DIG-South Syed Asad Raza said that the robbers looted people within the remit of the Risala police station and Constable Kareem Bux was chasing them. When they reached Bohra Pir near Sheesha Market, a police mobile van of the Eidgah police station intercepted them. The robbers opened fire, resulting in bullet injuries to the constable. In retaliatory firing, both suspects suffered bullet wounds and died later.

In Federal B. Area, a suspected robber, later identified as Kashif, was gunned down and his accomplice, Waseem, was arrested in a wounded condition in Block-19.

Central SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi said that two pistols and one motorcycle were recovered from their custody.

In another alleged encounter, the Khawaja Ajmir Nagri police shot dead a suspected robber, later identified as Ashraf Barkat, in North Karachi, Sector-4-D.

The police recovered two pistols, mobile phones and a motorcycle from his custody.

Robbers kill man in Shah Faisal Colony

A man was shot dead and a teenager wounded by armed robbers in a market in Shah Faisal Colony on Wednesday, police and witnesses said.

Area police SHO Arshad Husain Awan said that Javed Iqbal, 55, was purchasing chicken meat from a shop when two robbers on separate motorcycles emerged there and demanded his cell phone at gunpoint.

He said witnesses informed the police that Javed tried to run but the assailants opened indiscriminate fire and rode away. The bullets hit Javed and teenager Mohammad Ali. They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors pronounced Javed dead.

The SHO said the deceased’s brother said that robbers killed his brother but the police were investigating the case as the assailants did not take away anything.

The wounded teenager said that he was selling vegetables in the market when he saw some people attempting to snatch a cell phone from a customer.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2024