LAHORE, July 12: Police arrested and then shot dead a robber after he and accomplices made two abortive robbery attempts on the GT Road here on Friday.
Eyewitnesses told reporters four gunmen stormed into a medical store on the GT Road in Mughalpura. A police patrol in response to an emergency rushed to the spot and ordered the dacoits to surrender who opened fire on them. The police retaliated and a crossfire ensued. A policeman, Amjad Husain, and medical store owner Aslam were injured and the robbers escaped on foot.
The Shalamar police SHO and his men joined the police patrol and they spotted the gunmen on Shah Abdul Ghani Road where they were snatching a van. On seeing the police, the dacoits shot at and injured van owner Dr Iftikhar and escaped. The police chased the fleeing robbers and opened fire on them. One robber sustained a bullet injury and was overpowered by the police but his accomplices managed to escape. The policemen, later, shot dead the robber when he was lying injured on the road.
The Cantonment police SP, however, insisted that the robber died on way to hospital. “He even spoke to the policemen before his death and identified himself as Waheed. He also disclosed the names of his accomplices,” he claimed, saying a cell phone was also recovered from the dead man. Raids were being conducted to arrest the rest of the dacoits, he said.
Quoting a boy as the only eyewitness, the SP said he saw the robber opening fire on the police and receiving the bullets in return. This was the same gang which had been operating in the locality for sometime, he claimed.
The injured policeman and the other two injured men were admitted to the Shalamar Hospital. Later, they were shifted to the Mayo Hospital. Except for the policeman, the other two injured men were stated to be in critical condition.
The body was sent to the city mortuary for autopsy.
Meanwhile, Ms Rubina, 25, was shot at and injured by two armed men on resistance near the Jehangir’s Tomb in Shahdara Town. She was rushed to the Mayo Hospital where she was stated to be in critical condition.
Seven dacoits burst into a departmental store of Mian Tufail in Township and made off with cash and valuables worth over Rs125,000.
Another gang of three robbers stormed into the house of Mahmood Ghazanvi in the South Cantonment and took away cash, gold ornaments worth Rs50,000.
Sajid Aziz after drawing Rs487,000 from a bank was on his way home in Sanda when four gunmen held up him and took away the amount.
The salesman of a beverage company, Israr Ahmad, was on his way to collect money from distributors when two armed men held up him in Islampura and made off with Rs2,500.