LAHORE – The Crimes Investigation Agency (CIA) staged a fake encounter and gunned down four most wanted criminals, including two real brothers, in the vicinity of Islampura Police Station early Monday, police sources said.
They claimed that the gangsters were killed during crossfire: “The gangsters opened fire on the police soon after the cops raided their Bund Road hideout.” Interestingly, none of the policemen was wounded during the crossfire, which continued for about an hour according to a police spokesperson.
“As many as four proclaimed offenders involved in murder, dacoity, abduction for ransom and other heinous crimes were killed during an encounter with CIA police in the precincts of Islampura Police Station in the wee hours of Monday,” a police spokesperson said.
However, sources revealed that the bandits were in the custody of police for the last couple of weeks and the CIA police closed their chapter in a fake encounter. According to sources, CIA police teams arrested four gangsters during successful raids in different parts of the province a couple of weeks ago. All the four alleged criminals were reportedly aged between 30 and 40 years.
During preliminary investigations, the gangsters identified as Atique alias Billo, Zahid alias Raja, Altaf alias Tafu and his brother Sadiq alias Sabbi confessed that they had committed dozens of crimes, including multiple-killings, kidnappings for ransom and police encounters.
Sources believed that SP Muhammad Umar Virk, a controversial character with bad reputation in the department, gave green signal to his team to get rid of the criminal. The CIA police team took them to a dera in the Islampura police area and gunned them down one by one.
Police claimed that the criminals had become a symbol of terror in Lahore and other districts of the province, and they were wanted to the police in no less than 38 criminal cases.
According to a police spokesperson, the accused were involved in murder of two people in the area of Ferozwala Police Station. The same bandits had abducted the son of a local trader, Ijaz Butt, from Misri Shah and released him after receiving Rs4 million in ransom. The gangsters were also involved in several other cases of heinous crimes, including a police encounter in the Badami Bagh area in which they had shot dead Sub-Inspector Naveed Bhatti.
They were proclaimed offenders in several cases and were wanted by Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and Lahore police in a number of cases, said the police spokesperson, adding that the police also recovered Rs2 million, Kalashnikovs, pistols and bullets from the crime scene.
As per the police version, an accused Muhammad Atique alias Billo, during preliminary investigations, disclosed to investigator Sub-Inspector Muhammad Akram of CIA that his three accomplices Zahid alias Raju, Altaf alias Tafu and Sadiq alias Sabbi were hiding at Dera Chaudhary Abid at Bund Road.
On knowing this, CIA SP Muhammad Umar Virk constituted a special raiding party headed by Sub-Inspector Muhammad Akram. When the police reached the spot, the accused opened straight fire on the police vehicles with automatic guns.
As a result, the accused Atique alias Billo – who was accompanying the police raiding party to identify the location – sustained serious injuries.
The police also retaliated in self-defense and the gunfire continued for about an hour, according to the police spokesman. When the firing stopped, two accused later identified as Altaf alias Tafu and Sadiq alias Sabbi were lying dead next to each other with multiple bullet wounds, while their accomplice Zahid alias Raju also sustained serious injuries. The injured were rushed to a local hospital, but they died on the way.
The police have registered a case (under section 324/353/186 PPC and AO 13/20/65) against the deceased. The police have removed the bodies to the morgue for autopsy and are investigating.
The police further said that 38 cases were registered against the accused in Faisalabad, Sheikupura and Lahore districts. As many as 27 cases were registered against Zahid alias Raju; six cases each against Altaf alias Tafu and Sadiq alias Sabbi; and five cases against Atique alias Billo.
Early this year, the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) had replaced Omar Virk on the allegations of corruption, misuse of power and backing the criminals.
Virk had been serving in the CIA Police Lahore for the last several years. During his tenure, the CIA Police staged scores of fake encounters and killed many alleged gangsters. On June 6, the government reappointed Virk as chief of the CIA Police, expecting that he would help the police in bringing down the rising crime rate in the provincial metropolis.
Alleged armed encounters between police and gangsters have registered a considerable increase during the first four months of this year compared with the first four months of the previous year, which indicates that the Punjab Police are tightening the screw on the hardened criminals and desperate gangsters.
The police killed at least 58 alleged criminals during armed encounters that took place in various parts of the Punjab province during the first four months of this year. No less than 32 criminals were captured with bullet wounds they sustained during encounters until April 2012. Last year, the police statistics revealed, 94 police encounters had been registered from January to April while this year 85 armed encounters have been reported during the same period.
Insiders say that the Punjab Police are adopting aggressive policy to hunt the hardened criminals since Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has given a free hand to them.
Police officers believe that the aggressive policy would help them in bringing down the rising crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom and auto-snatching, besides creating a sense of security among the masses.