ISLAMABAD: Four suspected robbers, three of them shot and injured, were arrested after separate shoot-outs with the capital police on Friday.

Officers of the police said the shoot-outs took place in Jhangi Syedan and G-12. Three suspects managed to escape.

Earlier, the Islamabad Safe City received a call from a citizen that six gunmen riding two motorcycles had looted a man at Jhangi Syedan and escaped. After being alerted, a police patrolling team in Dhoke Basho spotted the suspects.

When the officials tried to intercept them, the motorcycle riders opened fire on the police vehicle.

The police retaliated and this led to an exchange of fire which continued for a while. Later, three suspects escaped from the spot on a motorcycle while the police arrested the remaining three, two of them with bullet injuries to their legs.

The police said constable Imran narrowly escaped while five bullets hit the official vehicle.

A case was registered in the Noon police station against the suspects.

The officers said the injured were members of a gang. They had looted Rs27,000 from Chaudhry Nadeem at Babu Mohalla before the shoot-out.

In a similar incident, a police patrolling team established a halting point near Srinagar Highway at G-12. The patrolling team spotted three suspicious persons riding two motorcycles.

When the police tried to intercept them, the suspects took a u-turn and sped away, the officers said.

The patrolling team chased the suspects during which one of the motorcycles slipped and its rider fell on the road after which he was arrested.

His accomplices then opened fire on the police. In response, the police retaliated forcing the suspects to flee.

Two bullets hit head constable Mohammad Irshad, who was wearing a bulletproof jacket. A couple of bullets also hit the police vehicles.

The Ramna police registered a case against the suspects and started an investigation.

A spokesman for the capital police said the three suspects were injured from the firing of their accomplices.

He said the arrested robbers were involved in a series of crime ranging from murder, attempted murder and robberies in the areas of Noon, Charsadda and Loi Bher.

They were also involved in injuring citizens, including women, during robberies and have confessed to their involvement in numerous house and shop robberies, he added.

Those involved in the shoot-out with the police in G-12 had robbed a citizen in Merabadi, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2022