GUJAR KHAN, June 19: The most wanted proclaimed offender (PO) was killed while his brother, also a PO, was injured in an encounter with Jhelum police in Sohawa on Sunday morning.

Huge quantity of arms were also recovered from the hilly hideout of the criminals, the police sources said.

District Police Officer (DPO) Jhelum Tayyab Hafeez Cheema, while addressing a media briefing at Sohawa police station, said Raja Moazzam, resident of Dora Budhaal village was involved in dozens of cases of murder, kidnap for ransom and robberies. He was wanted by different police stations of Jhelum, Sohawa, Gujar Khan and Jatli for his alleged involvement in a number of heinous crimes.

He said Raja Moazzam and his brother Raja Gulfraz were heading a gang of criminals and they attacked the police parties several times but they could not be apprehended as they took refuge in the mountains of Sohawa. Owing to their increased activities, they had become symbol of terror in the region.

The DPO said some black sheep in the police were also acting as their informers and the repeated attempts to apprehend them proved vain during last many years. According to Mr Tayyab, last week two boys namely Mohammad Shabir and Ghulam Rabbani belonging to a shepherd family were also kidnapped while a member of the family was also murdered by the gang.

However, the kidnapped boys were recovered by the local police four days ago after hectic efforts. According to the DPO, the Sohawa police and commandoes of the Elite Force had an encounter with the criminals in Mohra Roshan area of the Sohawa police station in the early hours of Sunday. During the severe exchange of fire, a criminal identified later as Raja Moazzam was killed while the other managed to escape in the jungle. Later, the police recovered huge quantity of weapons including hand grenades, mortars, Kalashnikovs, 2 12-bore rifles, magazines, a large number of bullets and two telescopes.

He said that according to the unconfirmed reports of the police sources, the injured criminal was Raja Gulfraz, real brother of Raja Moazzam. Their third brother, Hafiz Mukaram had already been arrested in a murder case and was facing trial in the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.

Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Captain (retired) Mohammad Zubair, RPO Rawalpindi, told Dawn that Raja Moazzam and Raja Gulfraz were the co-accused in the murder of Master Mohammad Khan, resident of their village Dora Budhaal about four years ago. Mukaram was arrested while his brothers managed to escape.