There was an uptick in the crackdown against the narcotics trafficking across Punjab as 11 more drug dealers were shot dead during encounters with Crime Control Department (CCD) teams in different cities.
In Lahore, three drug-sellers were killed in two fierce encounters in Green Town and Kahna areas.
Police said that a Crime Control Department (CCD) team was taking the arrested accused, Mohammad Farid and Mohsin Ali, for recovery from Model Town to Kahna. The accomplices of the accused suddenly started firing on the police team. During the exchange of fire, the two accused died, and their accomplices escaped from the scene, taking advantage of the darkness.
Another police encounter took place in the Green Town area of Lahore where accused Asif Javed was killed.
The CCD said that all the dead accused were wanted by the police in serious criminal cases including drug-selling, dacoity, snatching, murder, and attempted murder. The police have now constituted several teams to arrest accomplices of the slain accused. In two encounters in Faisalabad, four drug dealers were shot dead.
According to CCD Incharge of Madina Town Ali Akram Goraya, they signalled four suspicious persons to stop who were riding a motorcycle. But they instead opened fire on the CCD team. In the retaliatory firing, notorious drug-peddlers who were identified as Sikandar and Shehzad died on the spot.
In the second encounter, two drug-peddlers were killed, and another seriously injured during a raid by the CCD team in Faisalabad. The police encounter took place in the Nishatabad area of the city. The dead accused were later identified as Ghulam Shabbir and Ahsan Commando.
Police Circle Officer Inspector Siddique Cheema raided the location to apprehend the drug-peddlers. After taking notice of the CCD team, the armed accused resorted to firing. When the firing was stopped, two accused were found in critical condition. They were rushed to the hospital but succumbed to their injuries. CCD police said that all drug-peddlers had been wanted by the police since a long time. Later, the CCD team shifted the dead bodies of the accused to a hospital’s mortuary.