KARACHI, Dec 29 Cellphones, accessories and scratch cards worth over Rs150 million were stolen from a cellular phone market in the small hours of Monday in Orangi Town, police said.

The owner of the Adnan Khan Mobile Mall told Dawn that thieves entered the market by cutting the grille installed at a ventilator on the rooftop and robbed 17 shops.

“The thieves took away over 2,500 mobile phones and scratch cards worth Rs5 million,” he added.

The so-called mobile mall, housing 52 shops on a 500-square-yard plot, is located hardly 50 metres from the Orangi police station on the main Shahrah-i-Orangi.

The owner said that the market closed a little after midnight and opened at around 12 noon. “The thieves are believed to have sneaked into the market in the small hours,” he added.

He said the market had two night watchmen who had left for their hometown in the upcountry after the recent wave of ethnic violence.

The shop-owners affected by the theft were Adnan Khan, Khawar, Danish, Asif Khan, Arshad Khan, Arsalan, Mukarram, Babar, Abdur Rahman, Raheel, Akbar, Rehman, Rashid and Waseem.

The area SHO, Inspector Matiur Rehman, told Dawn that a case (FIR 419/2008) had been registered under Sections 380 (Theft in dwelling house, etc), 454 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified thieves on the complaint of the market's owner.

Elderly woman killed

A 55-year-old woman was stabbed to death allegedly by her teenaged maternal grandson and his friend in Ali Akbar Shah Goth, a shantytown of fishermen in Korangi.

The Ibrahim Haideri police said the suspect, Mohammed Ismail, 14, was booked and arrested for killing Saira, wife of Abul Bashar. They said the suspect's friend, Sultan, 14, was untraceable.

Sub-inspector Ali Gohar told Dawn that the suspect and his friend were addicted to hashish and they had gone to the elderly woman to seek money to buy the narcotic. He said the teenaged suspect kicked his grandmother when she refused to accede to his request for money.

The police official, quoting the suspect, said that Sultan picked up a chopper and asked him to shut the window and door of the room. The suspect told the police officer that his friend attacked the woman with the chopper as he went to close the door.

SI Ali Gohar said the two suspects fled the crime-scene after killing the woman. He said later the police arrested Ismail as the two suspects had been seen leaving the victim's house by children playing in the street.

The police registered a case (FIR 340/2008) against Ismail and his absconding accomplice under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's husband.

They said efforts were being made to track down the escaped suspect.

Man shot dead

A 45-year-old man, father of three, was shot dead near his home in North Nazimabad in the morning.

The Sharah-i-Noorjahan police said Hafeez Baig, son of Hanif Baig, was a resident of Block J and an employee of the Karachi Port Trust.

They said the victim was on his way to the main road to catch a vehicle for his office at around 8am when two unknown motorcyclists opened fire on him.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Sources at the hospital's medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim was hit by three bullets, fired from a close range, in the upper torso. A case against unidentified culprits was registered on the complaint of the victim's younger brother.

The police said the incident seemed to be motivated by a personal feud.