Daily Times

Three suspects were arrested by paramilitary rangers, on Friday, during raids in Lyari and Garden areas. Rangers spokesperson said in a statement that the search operation was carried in the wake of a recent grenade attack in Nayabad area of Lyari. The paramilitary force arrested three accused Abdul Aziz, Majid and Sohail alias Sunny on the basis of the investigation.

The accused are said to be involved in extortion in Lyari’s Khadda Market and the adjoining areas, the spokesman added.

The statement alleged that they had hurled the grenade at a medical store when their extortion demand was refused and left a pamphlet of an outlawed group nearby.

During the investigation, the suspects have confessed to working as facilitators of Sheeraz Zikri gang. Last October, a police team had carried out a successful operation in Lyari, killing the notorious gangster Ghaffar Zikri and his accomplice. His three-year-old son was also killed in the shootout in Ali Muhammed Muhallah of Lyari, while three police officers were injured. A symbol of terror in Lyari, Zikri, was being hunted by police in over 100 cases, including murder, extortion, abduction for ransom among other heinous crimes. The government had even announced a bounty of Rs. 2.5 million for Zikri’s head. He was one of the key players of Lyari gang war, along with Rehman Dakait, Uzair Baloch, Baba Ladla and Arshad Pappu. Last year, Baloch was also taken into military custody on charges of espionage.