KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested two suspected muggers said to be involved in wounding a student and looting over two-dozen people at a tea shop in Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

On Thursday night, six armed muggers riding on three motorbikes emerged at the tea shop in Nishat Commercial, Phase VI, DHA, held people sitting there at gunpoint, snatched their cell phones and other valuables, shot at and wounded a student and rode away.

SSP-South Rai Ijaz Ahmed said that a joint team of operations and investigation branches of police arrested the two suspects — Osama Ismail and Muhammad Kashif — and recovered as many pistols from their custody.

He said both the suspects got previous criminal record. During grilling, they gave details of their four accomplices involved in the same robbery incident, he said.

The suspects disclosed the hideout of their remaining accomplices and a police team took them to the place in Boat Basin. “Upon seeing police, their accomplice started indiscriminate firing and their bullets hit the held suspects,” claimed a police statement.

The police said it appeared that their accomplices attacked the police to get their held friends freed from custody. “Taking advantage of the indiscriminate firing, both the held suspects tried to run away but they suffered bullet wounds by the firing of their accomplices,” they claimed.

No policemen suffered injury in the alleged attack in which the accomplices of the held suspects managed to escape safely.

The police said the wounded were shifted to a hospital for treatment.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2022