LAHORE, June 24: The Gulberg police claim to have arrested three members of a dacoits’ gang.

Gulberg Station House Officer Abid Rasheed told Dawn the arrested criminals – ringleader Faisal Yaseen alias Chandu, of Pir Ghazi Road, Ichhra, Muhammad Imran of GOR-I, and Afzal of Mian Mir Colony -- were wanted in 18 cases of street crime traced against them in various police stations of the city.

Their fourth accomplice, Imran alias Mani, managed his good escape and the police are conducting raids for his arrest.

The SHO claimed the criminals had also looted Rs25,000 in cash and two cell phones from Sahibzada Sangeen Noor, the son of Khyber Pakhtunkhaw’s former chief secretary Sahibzada Riaz Noor, on MM Alam Road on June 13.

He said the police traced the robbers by getting record of the snatched cell phones and apprehended them from the National Park near Kalma Chowk when they were planning a robbery.

The SHO said Afzal was working as a labourer at Allama Iqbal International Airport and Imran alias Mani as a waiter at New Gymkhana Club on Upper Mall, but they left their jobs after they managed a handsome amount by looting citizens and formed a gang.

He said all the four gang members purchased motorcycles from the looted money.

During interrogation, they confessed to many incidents of crime. They also confessed that they had shot at a Government College University student in front of the FC College when he put up resistance.

A source said Mani and Faisal were arrested by the Ichhra police a couple of months ago, but the police released Faisal allegedly after getting bribe as his name was not mentioned in the police record at the time of his arrest, while Mani was released on bail by a court.