GUJRAT, Jan 21: The district police on Wednesday claimed to have killed two notorious proclaimed offenders in an encounter in Chenab Bela.

A police spokesman told Dawn that police had been tipped-off about the presence of Rafaqat alias Faqu and his step brother Razzaq alias Yaqu at a hideout in Chenab Bela. He said a heavy police contingent led by City DSP Tufail Mirza raided there and besieged the area early in the morning.

Getting wind of the police presence, the POs opened fire and threw hand grenades on police. Already on the alert, the police returned the fire. The crossfire continued for over two hours, leaving the two POs dead while their accomplices beat a retreat. The police recovered an official Kalashnikov, a G3 rifle, six hand grenades and a huge quantity of cartridges from the spot.

Faqu was wanted by different police stations of Gujrat in about 21 cases of murder, dacoity, robbery, kidnap for ransom and police encounters while Yaqu was wanted in five cases of heinous nature.

They had shot dead SI Malik Ilyas and constables Farooq, Tariq and Javed in Bela on Dec 21 and were the nominated accused in that case. The district police had shot dead Faqu's another PO brother Ashfaq alias Shaqu in an encounter in April last. Since then, Faqu had been threatening some police officials, including the DPO, of dire consequences.

Faqu used to take protection money from industrialists of Gujrat and Sialkot. Police have recovered a note book from his possession in which the names of industrialists paying ransom to him are mentioned. It also carries residential telephone numbers of the Gujrat DPO.

However, the facts do not support the police claim that the two POs have been killed in the encounter. They were arrested with a huge quantity of illicit weapons from the Sargodha General Bus Stand on Tuesday by the Gujrat police as reported on Wednesday by all newspapers.

When contacted, DSP Tufail Mirza claimed that the two POs were killed in a genuine encounter. He termed baseless the news item regarding their arrest from Sargodha.