DADU: More than 200 people were rounded up in a big search operation carried out in several marked villages, colonies and settlements in Dadu and Jamshoro districts by a strong contingent of police comprising officers and personnel from Karachi, Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Dadu as part of a greater operation to locate Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah’s son Barrister Awais Ali Shah and his kidnappers.

Sources in the police department said that the joint teams were sent to the region for an extensive search operation after detection of mobile phones signals indicating communication between some hardened criminals in Karachi and some people present in the marked areas over the last few days.

A house-to-house search was started a few hours before dawn on Friday and was continuing till the last reports came in from the areas.

Dadu SSP Munir Ahmed Shaikh and Jamshoro SSP retired Captain Tariq Wilayat who are leading the operation told the media that around 200 people were rounded up for interrogation but 150 of them were let off after initial questioning. They said further interrogation with 50 suspects was under way.

Independent sources said that police cordoned off Meenho Khan Bhand village, some three kilometres south of Dadu city, which is situated next to the Dadu district jail.

They then carried out a house-to-house search and rounded up 190 people from this village. A few hours later, they let off 160 of them and kept the rest in custody for further interrogation.

Women members of the affected families speaking to the media protested over the search of their houses without warrants, saying that police breached their privacy in the night hours which was uncalled for.

A similar operation was carried out in Najam Colony located with Dadu city. Ten people were picked up for interrogation during the house-to-house search.

In Shaheed Colony located within Bhan Syedabad town of Jamshoro district, a police team raided the house of Mohammed Khan Bhand and picked up his three sons, Lahoti, Shaman and Razzaq, for interrogation. The same team carried out more raids in Khadi village, some six kilometres away from the town, and picked up four suspects, Shahnawaz, Hussain, Patio Zulfoo.

It was learnt that acting upon some tips given by the held suspects, more raids were carried out on suspected hideouts in several other areas of the two districts.

Police sources said that the hunt was targeted against those suspects whose communication with some “most wanted” gangsters in Karachi was detected with the help of mobile phone signals and data over the past few days. They said the gangsters were believed to be involved in the recent incidents of terrorism and other heinous crimes.

SSP Dadu, speaking to the media on Friday evening, confirmed that the search operation was being carried out on the basis of the information collected so far during the investigation into Barrister Shah’s kidnapping. He, however, put the number of suspects taken into custody at 15 to 20.

He said that separate investigations were also being conducted by the Karachi and Hyderabad police besides the joint probe and operation. He said those found innocent during the initial interrogation were being let off.

The SSP said that the search operation by in Dadu and Jamshoro districts would continue until the kidnap victim and his kidnappers were located.

He said that the Sindh police were carrying out the operation in a well-coordinated manner, and expressed his confidence that they would make a breakthrough very soon.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2016