PESHAWAR: The police on Saturday claimed to have killed Abdullah alias Charra, a member of the Bilal Sabit Gang, in exchange of fire in Khazana area on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

They insisted the incident took place in the limits of the Khazana police station and it led to the arrest of the deceased’s wife and parents.

However, three gangsters managed to escape.

Peshawar SSP (Operations) Kashif Aftab Abbasi told a news conference at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines that the police were tipped off about the movement of Abdullah and other members of the Bilal Sabit Gang, so a special team was formed for their arrest.

He said that the team along with the personnel of the Khazana police station tried to intercept a car in which the criminals travelled near the Northern Bypass on the outskirts of the provincial capital but the latter fired gunshots at the police personnel.

SSP says Abdullah alias Charra was wanted for murder, extortion, car theft

The SSP said that Abdullah alias Charra was killed when the police returned fire, while three of his accomplices managed to flee.

He said that the slain outlaw’s parents and wife were detained by the police personnel.

Mr Abbasi said that those police teams were pursuing the absconding suspects.

He said that Abdullah was wanted by the Peshawar, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Lahore police in several cases of murder, attempted murder, extortion and car theft.

SSP Abbasi said that the accused was also a key suspect in the killing of station house officer of the Shahupur police station, Peshawar, Shakeel Khan and officials of the Intelligence Bureau in Peshawar earlier in May this year.

He said that the accused was a notorious car snatcher and several FIRs against him registered in Lahore and Islamabad.

“There were four cases against him in different police stations of Peshawar,” he said.

The SSP said that the police personnel had recovered four hand grenades, a mini machine gun, a Kalashnikov and other items used in the incidents of car theft from the slain gangster’s vehicle.

He said that the accused also used to steal automatic vehicles and that the gadgets used for the purpose were also seized.

A police source told Dawn that Abdullah, besides Noorullah Afghan, was the linchpin of the Bilal Sabit Gang, whose leader Bilal Sabit was killed in a joint action carried out by the Intelligence Bureau and Islamabad police in June this year.

Bilal’s brother, Yasir Sabit, was killed in Khurasaan Camp area of Khazana police station next day by the counter-terrorism department amid claim that he was planning to attack the police to avenge the killing of his brother.

The source said the IB officials and Shahpur police station’s SHO were gunned down on May 19 and 20, respectively, and the investigation revealed that the Bilal Sabit Gang was involved in both attacks.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2022