KARACHI, Dec 17: A judicial magistrate remanded on Monday eight suspects in police custody for one day in a rioting and illicit weapon case.

Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Shaukat Ali, Ameeruddin, Kamran, Sameer, Ali Shan, Ghufran and Mohammad Imran have been arrested by the Nabi Bux police, who claimed to have found unlicensed Kalashnikov rifles and pistols from their possession.

They were arrested on Saturday for allegedly creating terror by restoring to firing into the air and rioting.

The police booked the suspects under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and brought them before an anti-terrorism court for obtaining their remand.

However, public prosecutor Abdul Maroof said that he had gone through the contents of the FIRs and observed that neither any public or private property was damaged nor an encounter had taken place.

The offences in question were related to simple recovery of illicit weapons, rioting and firing into the air, which did not fall within the ambit of the ATA, 1997, he said and directed the investigation officer to produce the suspects before a judicial magistrate concerned.

The prosecutor also gave a similar directive to the IO of another case against three suspects — Mateen, Naveed and Abdul Rahim — who had been arrested by the Mehmoodabad police on charges of rioting, firing into the air and possession of illicit weapons.

The two IOs produced the suspects before judicial magistrates concerned.

Those arrested by the Nabi Bux police were remanded in police custody for one day, while the three suspects held by the Mehmoodabad police were sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand by the magistrates concerned.

Two cases (FIR Nos 246/12 and 209/12) were registered against the suspects under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 337-H (2) (punishment of hurt by rash or negligent act) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the ATA at the Nabi Bux and the Mehmoodabad police stations, respectively.

The eight suspects were booked under Section 13-B while the three suspects were booked under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance.