KARACHI, July 7: The alleged killer of 11 policemen was arrested in a dramatic development that followed a hot pursuit on Friday by police to net some carjackers. An encounter also took place during the chase which left two of the alleged criminals dead.

Revealing details at a hurriedly called press conference, a CCPO Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui said that police received a complaint of carjacking from Gulshan-i-Iqbal at Friday noon and moved swiftly to locate the vehicle and nab the culprits. He said that a special team of the ACLC spotted and chased the car, which stopped at a place in Gulshan-i-Maymar.

However, he said, the car again appeared on the road with its number plate changed. The occupants of the car were challenged and an encounter ensued, the CCPO said, adding that two of the four suspects were killed in the shootout. The deceased were later identified as Munawwar and Bashir.

The other two suspects were arrested and to the surprise of the ACLC team members, one of them was Shaman alias Samu who was an absconder carrying Rs0.5 million head-money. Samu had been awarded a 14-year imprisonment in absentia.

“He is the man who had killed three inspectors and eight policemen of different ranks during 1992-1999 in Karachi,” the CCPO said, adding that he was also wanted in other cases of kidnapping for ransom, attempted murder, etc.”

The other arrested suspect was identified as Doctor Ashok, who had been awarded seven-year imprisonment in absentia. Basically, he used to collect ransom money in kidnapping cases, the CCPO said.

He said that Home Minister Rauf Siddqui had announced a reward of Rs0.5 million for the ACLC team, headed by SP Saquib Ismail, for this achievement.

CRACKER BLAST: A young man died and three others were wounded when crackers dumped in the taxi boot went off in Bin Qasim town on Friday.