ATC acquits MQM ‘target killers’ six years after Nine Zero raid

Bureau Report

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday decided 54 cases linked to a raid at MQM-P headquarters-Nine Zero- after six years, acquitting the high profile target killers in a case pertaining to recovery of explosive material.
According to details, the ATC acquitted 12 suspects including Faisal aka Mota, Ubaid aka K2, Nadir Shah, Amir, Imtiaz, Abdul Qadir, Kazim Raza, Muhammad Amir, Shakeel, Mahmood Hasan and others in cases pertaining to charges under arms and explosives acts.
In another case, a suspect named Faisal was found guilty of possessing illegal arms and was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years while another suspect, Farhan Shabbir, was sentenced to eight-year-imprisonment under similar charges.
The Sindh Rangers on March 12, 2015, early morning raided at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement headquarters, Nine-Zero, had arrested several convicted and wanted criminals. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, walkie talkies, binoculars and other military gear used by Nato forces were also seized during the operation.
The Rangers spokesperson in his statement had said that the arms cache recovered by the paramilitary personnel during the operation included LMGs, SMGs, M4 rifles, G3 rifles, Repeaters and pistols. The statement read that the law enforcers were provided 107 arms licenses, out of which 71 were bona fide, while 36 licenses did not match with recovered weapons.