Karachi: District West Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Rizwan conducted an operation against a powerful land mafia involved in land occupation in Manghopir and vacated 200 acres of land. Reportedly, Manghopir Police collaborated with West District Assistant Commissioner West to foil a plan hatched by a land mafia to occupy various areas of Manghopir and Northern Bypass. Police received information regarding a swathe of land in Manghopir which had been illegally captured by a land mafia. SSP West Dr Rizwan told Daily Times that four days ago, the police received a letter from the district administration. The letter contained information regarding land occupation in Manghopir and urged the police to take immediate action against the mafia in question. As a result, a team headed by SHO Manghopir and sub-inspector (SI) Shahid Taj was formed to look into the case. The team also consisted of civil and administrative representatives from the area. “The team participated in the vacancy operation and we evacuated 200 acres of land from the occupation of a land and builder mafia,” said Dr Rizwan before adding that two suspects were also arrested during the crackdown. According to police, initial interrogations with the suspects revealed that a land grabbing mafia called ‘Arij Builders’ operating under Haji Ghulam Hussain had seized the land illegally. According to police Arij builders had been involved in illegal occupation even before this incident. Sources revealed that hundreds of acres of land in District West which had been lying barren in the past had became residential areas due to the intervention of Board of Revenue (BOR) assistant commissioner Mukhtiarkar. Sources said that land mafia with the help of Revenue Department were forging ownership documents, building houses in the area in night time and selling these houses later on. Sources said that the actual mastermind behind Arij Builder was Ghulam Rasool who had connections with Ali Hassan Birhoi, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari. After the operation, police registered case against Abdul Rehman and Ghulam Rasool and began a formal investigation. Published in Daily Times, August 16th 2018.