KARACHI, Dec 19: An alleged member of a gang snatching mobile phones was killed and two policemen were wounded in a shootout that occurred late Saturday night as police geared up their efforts to curb street crimes. Two other alleged gang members were arrested.

During the past 18 days, 218 cases of mobile phone snatching had been reported in the city on 'Madadgar 15'. However, only 10 people had expressed their willingness to lodge FIRs, police sources said.

The police authorities took notice of the rising incidence of street crimes after it was reported in a section of press during the presence of the president Pervez Musharraf in the metropolis.

A group of people gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday, and staged a protest against the growing number of incidents of street crimes and house robberies. They criticized the police for failing to control the situation and urged the government to take stern measures to curb the crimes.

Mobile phone snatching is not a new phenomena; it had been occurring over the past couple of years. However, the police claimed that they had started nabbing culprits in the past two months. It was for the first time that the police had fired at suspects for snatching mobile phones.

DSP Kharadar Haseeb Beg told Dawn that a police party at Merewether Tower late Saturday night noticed three people riding a Suzuki Alto and snatching mobile phones. Police challenged the robbers and ordered them to stop. Instead, they fired at the police, and they returned fire. Two policemen were injured while the robbers managed to escape.

Subsequently, the DSP said, the car was found in Boat Basin police limits. The police found a body and an injured robber, who was shifted to the JPMC. Police also found 17 stolen mobile phones, two TT pistols, and a dagger.

The dead robber was identified as Yasir and the injured one as Asad, who, hospital sources said, was still in a serious condition. However, he told the name of his accomplice as Furqan, and the police picked him up from Surjani Town.

He said that since Oct 23, the police had arrested 12 alleged robbers, killed four others in encounters, and recovered nine TT pistols, seven daggers and a number of cell phones.