SUKKUR, May 31: Police have arrested five alleged bandits in the ongoing operation against criminals in Shah Belo forest and recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.

This was said by the DPO, Sukkur, Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh, at a press conference in his office here on Monday.

He said that on receiving information that a group of dacoits was hiding in Buland Jatoi village near Shah Belo, the police cordoned the entire area. Sensing danger, the dacoits opened fire on police, which was returned by them.

After the encounter, police succeeded to arrest five dacoits, Niaz Mirani son of Malguzar, Zaheer Misrani son of Mohammad Saleh, Yahya son of Mohammad Essa Misrani, Ali Sher son of Mohammad Panah and Rehman son of Sattaroo Chachar.

Police recovered one rocket launcher, four Kalashnikoves, nine magazines, two rockets, and hundreds of bullets from their possession. Answering a question, the DPO said that the arrested dacoits were involved in several cases of murder, kidnapping, dacoity and other heinous crimes.

He said that it was wrongly assumed that the operation against the dacoits had ended. On the contrary, he added, police were still in the Kutcha area and the operation was continuing.

Answering another question, he said that due to rise in water level in some Kutcha areas, police had been provided motorboats for patrolling round the clock. He said that as the dacoits were running short of ration, they were procuring food items through their women from Chak town and police had been ordered to check those women also.

He said that the operation would continue till its logical end and to maintain durable peace in the Kutcha areas, three police stations had been established in Iqbal Baharo, Alif Kutcho and Hussain Beli where heavy contingents of police equipped with modern weapons had been deployed.

He said that Khuda Bux Almani, the so-called uncle of Shaista Almani, had reached Shah Belo forest to seek help from the dacoits belonging to the Jatoi tribe against the Mahar tribesmen.

The DPO said that after the murder of Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai in Karachi, extra precautionary measures had been taken in the Sukkur region to prevent any untoward incident. Mr Shaikh made it clear that suspected vehicles would be taken into custody.

JAMALI TRIBESMEN HELD: Six Jamali tribesmen were arrested by the CIA police in a raid in the Chandoo Khan Jamali village, near Garhi Khairo, Jacobabad, on Sunday morning.