Reports said Mirza Dilshad Baig and Mirza Aslam Baig, the brothers of union council Nazim Mirza Shaukat Baig, left their house in Nazimabad at about 7:30am carrying two bags of prize bonds worth Rs20 million. As they reached Sanatpura, their vehicle was intercepted by four armed men riding a car. The interceptors opened fire on the vehicle of the prize bond dealers, killing gunmen Pervaiz and Nazir. Later, the bandits overpowered Aslam and Dilshad and shot them dead one by one.
Two of the dacoits continued aerial firing to harass the people who had gathered there. After killing the four people, the outlaws made off with the bags containing prize bonds.
Eyewitnesses told this correspondent that the dacoity incident was so organized as if the four bandits had a complete information about the presence of prize bonds in the vehicle and the scheduled route of the dealers.
Some people told Dawn that two motorcyclists were also involved in the dacoity who followed the prize bond dealers when they left their house.
They said Rescue-15 was informed soon after the incident, but the Jhang Bazaar police reached the spot after about half an hour despite the fact that the police station was located just a few metres away from the site.
However, police sources claimed a cellular phone reportedly belonging to a resident of the Karachi’s Federal B area carried by outlaws had been taken into possession which might lead to identification and arrest of the dacoits. An investigation team succeeded in scanning nine calls made by the outlaws to various people in Khanewal and Karachi. They also claimed the car used in the incident was a stolen one.
Meanwhile, district police officer Umer Shaikh claimed the dacoits could not succeed in taking away the prize bonds. However, a computerized list has been circulated among all prize bond dealers by Mirza Shaukat Baig. The DPO further claimed that the incident occurred at 9:30am, but the eyewitnesses insisted that it happened at 7:30am.
The DPO told this correspondent that at about 9:30am, some eight armed men on a car and two motorcycles stopped two prize bond dealers of Khalidabad locality when they were going to Rail Bazaar along with their gunmen. The gunmen put up resistance upon which a crossfire took place as a result of which both the dealers and their gunmen were killed.
He said two special teams had been constituted under the supervision of the SP (city) for early arrest of the accused.
In the evening, the police claimed to have arrested two of the accused and recovered the vehicles used in the dacoity besides a huge quantity of arms.
A source said the police party headed by the SP (city) found a clue to two persons living in different localities through the scanning of calls made by the cell phone recovered from the site of the incident.
A police contingent raided the house of Shaikh Naeem, a former bank manager, in Madina Town and arrested his brother, Jameel. The police recovered the car, two motorcycles, six pistols and three Kalashnikovs reportedly used in the dacoity. They also recovered the clothes of the accused having blood stains.
The police later conducted a raid in Mansoorabad and arrested Allah Ditta on whose number the accused had also made a call before committing the crime.
When contacted, the SP said a clue to the accused had been found and the real culprits involved in the incident would be arrested soon.
The Khanewal and Karachi police have also been informed about the incident.
Meanwhile, the local trade bodies have announced that they will observe a complete strike on Monday in protest against the killing of four people.
The decision was taken at a news conference attended by trade leaders Munawwar A. Shaikh, Nawaz Vohra, Shaikh Taj Mahmood and office bearers of over three dozen trade associations of the city.
They threatened in case the culprits involved in the heinous crime were not arrested within 48 hours, the traders would announce a future line of action.