SUKKUR: Ghotki police on Wednesday claimed to have seized a huge cache of arms and arrested a man and a woman, members of an interprovincial arm smuggling gang, who were trying to take the weapons purchased from Afghanistan to gangs of dacoits and outlaws operating in riverine area of the district.

A press release issued by Ghotki police said that acting on a tip-off received from a federal intelligence agency, SSP Dr Samiullah Soomro led a team of Ubauro police who conducted an operation in the riverine area and prevented shipment of short and long range weapons from falling into the hands of different gangs operating in the riverine area of Sindh and Punjab.

Police officials said that Ubauro SHO Mohammad Ramzan Mallah and in-charge of police post Kamu Shaheed Hussain Kalhoro and an IT team along with staff of the district police intercepted a Suzuki pickup laden with dowry items.

During search of the vehicle, police officials recovered a large cache of weapons placed in boxes, which had bene concealed under dowry items, they said. They said the arrested suspects were identified as Mohammad Sohail, a resident of Dakkhana in Khushab, Punjab, and Quratulain, wife of Ramzan Ahmed, resident of Chiniot, Punjab.

They said the seized weapons comprised a M-20 recoilless rifle, eight high explosive anti-tank rounds, a mortar, mortar scope, two mortar rounds, four RPG rounds, six grenades, two SMG drum magazines, rounds chain and more than 2750 Kalashnikov bullets.

The police officials said the weapons cache purchased from Afghanistan passed through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and was on way to different gangs such as Mazari, Badani, Kush, Indhar, Sher and other criminal elements, who were operating in the riverine area. The weapons were worth millions of rupees, they said. They said that police had lodged a case against the arrested suspects under Sections 3, 6, 8, 23(I), 23(II), 24, 25 of the Arms Act and 7 ATA at the Ubauro police station.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Home Zia Hussain Lanjar and IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon appreciated Ghotki police on the successful action.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2024