KARACHI: In a surprise move, nine suspects booked in the Shershah scrap market carnage case surrendered themselves to the police on Tuesday, officials said.

“The nine suspects voluntarily surrendered themselves to police authorities who then formally arrested them,” said SP Raja Umer Khattab of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).

“The police somehow managed to contact the suspects and succeeded in convincing them to surrender.”

Those who surrendered and were formally arrested are Ijaz, Iqbal, Akbar, Tufail, Asghar Ali, Abdul Rasheed, Tehseen, Jauhar and Abid.

The SIU chief said that 17 suspects were booked in the FIR of the Oct 19, 2010 Shershah scrap market carnage that claimed the lives of 13 people.

Of them, he said, 13 suspects had been arrested and four, including Imdad Magsi, Rashid, Hameed alias Mullah Raju, were still at large.

However, there was no official explanation as to why the police failed to convince the prime suspect, Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla, to surrender himself to police in similar fashion.

The SP did not give any details regarding the place where the suspects had surrendered.

The Pak Colony police had registered a case (FIR 578/2010) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of one of the traders, Mohammad Nafees, who survived the deadly attack.

The Tuesday arrest left several questions unanswered though sources in the police department and close to politicians having influence in Lyari said that the Pakistan People’s Party-led government used community elders and after weeks of efforts won the confidence of the suspects.

“Definitely there were some guarantees from the government that convinced the suspects to surrender themselves to police,” said a senior government official.

“The suspects were also concerned about mounting pressure on the police to arrest them and they feel that it may lead to some extra-judicial action.”

Chief Minister’s Adviser Sharmila Farooqui said: “There is nothing in our knowledge about a deal that was mediated through a government channel. It appears to be purely the result of police efforts.”