SUKKUR/HYDER­ABAD: Police claimed to have gunned down two dacoits and arrested five outlaws after they fell injured in separate encounters in Shikarpur district and Hyderabad city late on Saturday night.

Officials in Shikarpur police said that they received a tip-off that a gang of outlaws was waiting on a road along Golo Wah (water channel) with the intention of committing crime. As police approached the outlaws they opened fire on the jawans without warning. Police returned the fire and gunned down a dacoit, said police, adding that other members of the gang managed to escape during the shootout.

They said that they had taken into custody a TT pistol lying by the alleged dacoit’s body, which had not yet been identified.

In Sukkur, police arrested five criminals during encounters in different areas of the district. The outlaws were held after they fell wounds during actions by officials of A-Section, B-Section, C-Section and Airport police stations.

Police said that they had recovered weapons from the arrested outlaws who were involved in robberies, snatching of motorcycles and cars etc.

In Hyderabad, A-Section police claimed to have gunned down a bandit in an alleged encounter late on Saturday night in Latifabad Unit-7. The bandit was identified as Syed Sajid Ali Shah, who died instantly in exchange of fire with police in which no official was hurt.

Officials said that police took action after learning that Sajid Shah gang was present in the limits of A-Section police station and shot the dacoit dead in the ensuing exchange of fire.

They said that Shah was involved in an attempted house robbery on March 7 in which the dacoits had shot at one of the family members. Shah was said to be member of an interprovincial gang of dacoits as he was involved in several armed robberies in Hyderabad, they said.

They said that police had earlier arrested Shah’s accomplices, Riaz alias Shah Jee, Tanvir Ahmed Gujjar and Basit Shaikh. Shah was involved in 25 criminal cases of narcotics trade, dacoity, possession of illicit arms, theft and encounters with police, they said, adding that police had lodged an FIR under Sections 324, 353 and 34 PPC against Shah and his gang.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2024