MIRPURKHAS, Sept 22: Personnel of Rangers and Karachi police raided two villages, 50 kilometres from here, early on Sunday morning and picked up eight suspected hit men who were hiding there to escape arrest during the ongoing targeted operation in Karachi.

Sources in police said that a heavy contingent of Rangers and Karachi police with an armoured personnel carrier arrived here from Karachi before dawn and went straight to Abdul Salam village, where they rounded up the eight suspects after sealing off the village.

Then they raided a place nearby Nisar Kaimkhani village but failed to find the suspects they were looking for there, said the sources.

The sources said the law-enforcement personnel carried out raids on a tip-off about the presence in the village of criminals and outlaws who were involved in targeted killing and extortion in Karachi. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location, said the sources.

The SHO of Jhuddo police station, Shahnawaz Khaskheli, told journalists that Rangers and Karachi police kept local police away from the areas where they were to conduct the raids and did not even share information about it afterwards. They, therefore, did not know if any arrest had been made or arms recovered, he said.

27 suspects held in city

The Rangers personnel nabbed 27 ‘notorious criminals’ and seized a large number of weapons from them in late night targeted raids in different areas across the city, said a spokesperson for the paramilitary force on Sunday.

The raids were conducted in North Karachi, Jodia Bazaar, Green Town, Orangi Town, F.C. Area, Landhi-5, Ansoo Goth, Bismillah Terrace, Superhighway, Juma Goth, Ramaswami, Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, Habib Bank Chowrangi and Parsi Gate in Mehmoodabad areas, which resulted in the detention of 27 ‘notorious criminals’ and recovery of a large number of weapons of different calibres, he said.

He said the Rangers personnel stopped a suspicious vehicle during snap checking and found an abducted boy and his kidnappers inside who were held after brief resistance.

In another incident, Rangers found a suspicious bag lying behind Ismaili community apartments in Metroville, SITE. They called the Bomb Disposal Squad personnel who recovered grenades from the bag after screening it, he said.