KARACHI, 22 June — Security agencies yesterday swooped down on those holding unlicensed weapons in private homes and establishments across the province of Sindh. Dozens of people who either hoarded or kept illegal arms were picked from different parts of the province, police officials said.
Altogether 700 weapons were seized from such individuals in the past 24 hours. Up to 300 weapons were recovered from Karachi alone.
Police officials refused to say just how many people had been arrested in today’s swoop. Unconfirmed reports suggest that up to 50 people were rounded up in the past 24 hours.
Local officials said that policemen and paramilitary troops (rangers) began their search for illegal arms late Wednesday hours after an official deadline for surrendering unlicensed weapons expired.
In most cases the raiding parties were aided by anonymous callers and conscientious individuals, a senior police official said.
All the senior superintendents of police of the five districts of Karachi and the Central Investigation Agency chief were present during the raids. A team of policemen raided the locked home of Mehmood Chingari, an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz. In the presence of a district magistrate, the front-door lock of his home was broken and policemen mounted a search for arms.
Several guns were found hidden in a cricket kit and elsewhere in Chingari’s house. The security agents found 187 rounds of ammunition, 15 pistols, two 32-bore rifles, two mousers and a carbine with 10 bullets.
In District South, policemen raided homes in Garden, Nabi Bux, Baghdadi, Risala and Kalakot areas and recovered 49 weapons. Law enforcement officials detained 11 people in connection with the seizure of those weapons.
Police in the volatile Soldier Bazaar area broke into an abandoned home near the Lyari riverbed and recovered two shotguns and three pistols.
Similar raids were conducted in other four districts of the city. According to available statistics, thirty-one weapons were recovered from District Central while another 126 were seized from District West.
During the amnesty period announced by the government earlier for holders of unlicensed weapons almost 770 weapons were surrendered, according to Salim Akhtar Siddqui, a deputy inspector general of police.
