KARACHI: Four suspects said to be members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were detained in Karachi on Tuesday night in surgical, intelligence-driven operations carried out by Pakistan Rangers Sindh.

The suspects, picked up from North Nazimabad and other areas of the city, are allegedly involved in land grabbing, China Cutting, and funding targeted killings in the city. Weapons and walkie-talkies were also recovered from the suspects' possession, a press release issued by the Rangers said.

The detentions came about on the same day that Moazzam Ali Khan, a suspect said to be a key character in the Dr Imran Farooq murder case, was produced in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi. The court had then handed Khan over to the Rangers on 90-day-long preventive detention for questioning.

The paramilitary force had informed the ATC that it had credible information regarding Khan's involvement in targeted killings and other offences that fall under the domain of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Read more: Prime suspect in Imran Farooq murder placed under 90-day preventive detention

Also today, members of a Joint Investigation Team are questioning death row prisoner and former MQM worker Saulat Mirza in Balochistan's Machh jail.

Mirza was found guilty of murdering the then managing director (MD) of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), now K-electric, Malik Shahid Hamid, his driver Ashraf Brohi, and his guard Khan Akbar outside Hamid's residence in DHA on July 5, 1997.

Mirza levelled serious allegations against MQM chief Altaf Hussain, Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad and MQM leader Babar Ghauri in a video broadcast hours before his scheduled execution on March 19, after which President Mamnoon Hussain delayed his sentencing.

MQM has denied Mirza’s allegations and party lawmakers have called the video statement a “mockery of things”. They have appealed to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to look into the broadcast which they say has no legal value.

Read more: JIT questions Saulat Mirza

The party appears to be going through a critical phase with its chief Altaf Hussain currently on bail in a money laundering case in the UK and its headquarters having recently undergone a raid by Rangers personnel who claimed that they had arrested men involved in heinous crimes from Nine Zero, MQM's main powerhouse in Pakistan.