HYDERABAD, Feb 14: The Latifabad police on Friday arrested six employees of two private security agencies which were being run without valid documents and providing weapons to their guards with tampered numbers.

A police source said on Saturday one of the agencies was owned by a former chief of a secret agency.

Four separate cases were registered and the Hussainabad police obtained a remand of the accused for three days in police custody from the court of the civil judge-I.

The police, under supervision of Latifabad TPO Khalid Mustafa Korai and inspector Javed Ahmad Zai, had raided the office of the LMS security company in Latifabad after the TPO arrested two employees of the agency near the Nursery Chowk with weapons in their hand. The arrested employees did not have valid licenses, documents or even NICs.

During the raid, an official of the company, Shah Nawaz Asif Bajwa, also failed to provide documentary evidence of the company. He told the police that the company was owned by a retired colonel, who was not present at that time.

The TPO told journalists that the company did not have any mandatory police verification for employing guards. He said one weapon was shown to have been issued to two different licenses which were photo copies and not original ones.

Speaking at a news conference here on Saturday, City SP Mujahid Akbar Aziz said the business of the security company was legal but it was being done through illegal means at the local level.

The police seized 11 repeater guns, three revolvers, one big mouser and one double-barrel gun from the office. The tampered with weapons included six repeater guns, one 7MM rifle and one double-barrel gun.

Those arrested were identified as manager Shah Nawaz Asif, supervisor Ziaul Haq and guard Rab Nawaz Panhwar.

Inspector Zai also raided the office of the Wings security services on the Auto Bhan Road and arrested its owner Kashif Riaz Rajput, supervisor Kamal Khan and guard Barkat Ali.

They also did not have any license. The police seized relevant record and two pistols and four rifles.

The Latifabad TPO said the license of the company was for Balochistan and not for Sindh.

DPO A. D. Khwaja has directed all SHOs to check whether security agencies in their areas were working in accordance with law.