KARACHI - Fire erupted at a curtains store in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area while all items worth millions of rupees were gutted in the fire incident, on Sunday whereas fortunately no casualty was reported.
According to the police, as a result of fire incident carpets, curtains and other materials costing millions of rupees were burnt. The fire broke out when the store was closed, while law-enforcers and fire brigade reached at the site and after four hours extinguished the fire.
According to the Chief Fire officers Ehtishamuddin, nine fire tenders participated in the rescue operation for controlling the fire.
Ehtishamuddin said that due to the presence of carpets and curtains, the fire immediately gutted the entire shop while the fire was extinguished in four hours. However, he said that the cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained.
Earlier, the curtains store situated near the Baitul Mukarram Masjid, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and it owner’s house also came under attack when unidentified armed men lobbed locally made cracker bombs in the recent months following the non-payment of the extortion money.
DSP Nasir Lodhi said that close circuit cameras were also installed at the shops following the security reasons, however, the cameras were also burnt to ashes. “Only one camera installed outside the shop remained safe in the fire but the DVR system was gutted in the fire. The law-enforcers have yet to ascertain the group of extortionists behind the extortion threat to the owner of the shop.
DSP Lodhi said that the extortion threats were made by the phone calls but the address and other data of the SIM card used in the extortion calls were fake, adding, that the police was also trying to ascertain whether the fire broke out accidently or it was a criminal activity.
No case has been registered till filing of this report.