- Suspects were running an extortion network in various Karachi areas: SSP
- Weapons, ammunition, mobiles, gold jewelery found: the police
- Pakistan Sunni Tehreek condemns the raid, alleging abuse of power.
KARACHI: Karachi police arrested several suspects, including “extortionists”, in a raid conducted at Qadri House in Karachi’s Nazimabad late on Saturday night.
SSP Dr. Imran Khan, chief of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Karachi, said Jawad Qadri and Mullah Shahzeb were among the several arrested suspects. However, he clarified that Pakistan Sunni Tehreek chief Sarwat Ijaz Qadri was not detained, The news reported.
The SSP said the arrested suspects were wanted by the police in several cases as they were “running an extortion network”. He said the arrests were made on the basis of information provided by an already captured suspect named Rehan.
SSP Imran Khan said Rehan, who was involved in extortion and firing in Jamshed Quarters, had been arrested earlier. Acting on his information, the police raided Qadri House and arrested several suspects, including Jawad Qadri alias Khawaja and Shahzeb Mullah.
According to the police official, the arrested suspects were in touch with the Samad Kathiawadi group. A large quantity of arms, ammunition, mobile phones and gold jewelery were recovered from their possession. The suspects must also have a previous criminal record. Further investigations are underway.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Sunni Muslim Tehreek strongly condemned the police raid on the Qadri house. Its central spokesman stated that “the voice of truth cannot be suppressed by the use of force.”
He alleged that security cameras at Qadri House were deliberately damaged to hide police actions and claimed that officials and workers of the Karachi division were arrested during the raid.
SSP Imran Khan further stated that 21 accused had been arrested during the past week. He added that five police encounters took place between the SIU and the suspects during which two extortionists and three other criminals were arrested in an injured condition.
He said the arrests were part of an ongoing crackdown on extortionists and their networks operated from abroad. Extortion cases have been registered at the police stations of Sukhun, Surjani, Tipu Sultan and Jamshed Quarters.
SSP Khan also said that drug peddlers were arrested during the operation and nine kilograms of hashish and heroin were recovered from them.
In addition, four members of a gang involved in street crimes were arrested. He said the SIU/CIA remains actively engaged in operations against racketeers and other criminals.
