SUKKUR: Deeply frustrated over failure of several raids to arrest or eliminate certain dacoits, Sukkur SSP finally ordered arrest of a policeman on Monday for helping the outlaws escape any such action.

Soon after the policeman, Aijaz Jatoi, was booked and arrested, SSP Azhar Khan Mughal, said that a secret departmental inquiry found him leaking information to outlaws ahead of every planned raid.

Speaking to Dawn, the SSP said he had dispatched police teams to different riverine areas of Bagarji over the last few weeks upon receiving reliable information about presence of some most-wanted dacoits there but each time they managed to escape.

Eventually, he added, he went for a secret inquiry into the matter which found Aijaz Jatoi working in nexus with gangsters.

The SSP said that Jatoi was posted at the Saeedabad police checkpoint near Bagarji town’s road leading to the gang-infested riverine area.

The checkpoint existed within the limits of Sukkur’s Airport police station.

He said Jatoi had now been booked and arrested under relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Barring a few instances of failed raids in recent weeks, the Sukkur police have great achievements to their credit over the last eight months of fight against crime, the SSP said.

He pointed out that the police were engaged in 158 encounters with outlaws in which 10 criminals were killed and 40 others arrested.

As many as 26 kidnap victims were safely recovered, he said, and added that 49 gangs involved in street crime and other offences were busted and 217 suspects arrested during the period.

A total of 214 wanted criminals and 525 absconders were also arrested, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2025