[Pak Daily Times] The city police claimed to have jugged two suspects from Orangi Town in connection with assassinations in Karachi on Sunday.Addressing a press conference at the Central Police Office (CPO), Karachi Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Fayyaz Laghari claimed that Naseem Haider alias Firaun and Asif Rasheed alias Dumba were involved in assassinations of Shia scholars and doctors.
According to in charge of Investigation Zone West I, SP Khurram Waris, the police received a tip-off that cut-throats would target another doctor in Saleemabad and spotted the culprits travelling on a motorcycle bearing registration number KBP-8591.
When the police party tried to intercept them, an encounter took place and the suspects were finally jugged from Block D, Orangi Town, he said.
Interestingly, the area residents, from where the men were allegedly jugged, said the two men were jugged on Friday after a brawl with police personnel over using drugs at a public place near Ghousia Noor Masjid in Orangi Town, Block J, Sector 11/2.
Moreover, Daily Times published a story on October 9 on Firaun's arrest from Sector 111/2 of Orangi Town within the limits of Iqbal Market cop shoppe before the Friday prayers.
He was handed over to the officials of one of the teams investigating the twin kabooms at the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi.
Various police officers, investigating terror-related cases, had confirmed that Firaun was an activist of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi but was not active now, evident from the fact that he was not being jugged in recent cases of terrorism. They said that Firaun had become a drug addict after his release from jail in 2007 and roamed around in the area throughout the day.
The police declined the arrests of the alleged accused persons on Friday.
Laghari, meanwhile, claimed that the two suspects were involved in the murder cases of several Shia doctors including Maulana Ghulam Muhammad, Muhammad Hussain, Dr Najam-ul-Hassan, Dr Mehtab Hussain and Shiraz.
The CCPO said the suspects were affiliated with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and leading a group involved in sectarian killings.
During investigation, they have revealed that they were planning to attack Ahmedi religious places before the PS-94 by-election, he added.
The police also claimed to have seized a Kalashnikov and two TT pistols from their possession.
The alleged culprits had also been charged previously in sectarian cases but were bailed out from courts.
Suspect Firaun was in Karachi Central Prison from 2003 to 2007 on similar charges and was released over lack of evidence.
"We will hold monthly meetings and review investigations of assassinations and other high profile cases," he said while explaining the preventive measures taken by the police department.
He said the city police have divided assassination cases into four categories: sectarian, ethnic, political and random killings.
According to Laghari, the CPO has recorded a total of 230 assassinations this year while 32 accused have been jugged.
Regarding the investigation of Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine blast, the police chief said that clues on identification of boomers have been found but cannot be disclosed as it would sabotage the investigation process.