SUKKUR: Heavily armed gangsters in Kandhkot stormed a police check-post killing one constable and wounding two others within the limits of the Badani police station of the city on Thursday. Elsewhere in the city, incidents of looting people continued unabated over the last 24 hours.

In the Badani area, a gang of dacoits opened an indiscriminate fire on the Gandhair police post injuring three constables posted there. The victims, Raja, Ghulam Mustafa and Saddam Hussain, are stated to be residents of Karachi.

The assailants sped away into the nearby riverine area under the cover of heavy fire before any reinforcement could be sent to the area.

Two constables wounded; gangs go on looting spree along highway

Kandhkot-Kashmore SSP Bashir Ahmed Brohi ordered dispatch of a strong police force drawn from different police stations to cordon off the area and arrest the gangsters, who had already escaped to their hideouts in thick woods of the riverine area.

A few police mobiles drove up to the Gandhair police post and transported the wounded policemen to the Kandhkot Taluka Hospital, where doctors referred them to the Sukkur Civil Hospital. However, one of them, Ghulam Mustafa, succumbed to his wounds on the way.

His funeral prayers, offered at the Sukkur Police Headquarters, were attended by Sukkur DIG Pir Mohammad Shah and SSP Amjad Ali Shaikh, Kandhkot-Kashmore SSP Bashir Ahmed Brohi, and a number of officers and personnel of police and Rangers.

The Thursday incident occurred only a few days after a similar attack on a police post from where constable Ali Raza Leghari was taken away at gunpoint by a dacoit gang within the limits of the Kandhkot-Kashmore district police.

The suspects have uploaded a video on the social media showing the chained policeman being beaten up by gangsters, who are demanding release of their certain assicuates in exchange of the hostage.

Looting spree

Separately, heavily armed members of a gang suddenly emerged at the Sui Laro (turning) along the Indus Highway late on Wednesday night and blocked the thoroughfare with barricades to force drivers to stop their vehicles. They also shots the tyres of several vehicles turning them immoveable before going on a looting spree.

For more than an hour, the gangsters kept robbing drivers and other occupants of the stuck up vehicles of their cash, mobile phones, wrist watches and other valuables, but the Dera Sarki police could not reach the spot despite being informed by many of the people who were yet to be robbed.

As soon as the gangsters left the scene along with the booty, residents of the nearby localities started arriving there. Some local media personnel also turned up. The victims narrated their ordeal to them and said that the gangsters had just moved in the direction of the adjacent riverine area.

The looted commuters held a noisy demonstration raising slogans against the police for not coming to their rescue during the looting spree.

In another incident, armed dacoits struck a petrol pump at the Tangwani Laro (turning) along the Kandhkot-Thull section of Indus Highway and robbed its cashier of all the money and valuables he possessed. They also deprived his co-workers of their cash and mobile phones before leaving the fuel station and fleeing into the nearby riverine area.

Mohammad Khan Khoso, the brother of the petrol pump’s owner, told the media personnel that the amount taken away by the gangsters was around Rs4m.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2024