KARACHI    -     Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested an accused involved in killing of Hamdard University medical student Misbah Azhar. The incident occurred in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the city, where armed men opened fire on Misbah when she was on her way to the university along with her father. The robbers opened fire after facing resistance, killing the student at the spot.

Addressing a presser on Wednesday, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) East Ghulam Azfar Mahesar said that they had arrested a culprit identified as Muhammad Nabi, an Afghan national, over involvement in killing of the student. The police also recovered the mobile phones snatched during the robbery bid, said the SSP adding that the accused was a garbage collector.

He further informed that a key accomplice in the murder is identified as Bashir and efforts were afoot to arrest him as soon as possible. The SSP said that the gang was involved in the street criminal activities mainly within the remits of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and further investigation with the accused is underway to trace other culprits involved in it.

The SSP East also announced arresting a target killer identified as Abdul Salam alias Massa over his involvement in 111 target killings incidents including those of law enforcers in the city. The SSP informed that Anti-Street Crime Squad of District East apprehended target killer Abdul Salam from Nishtar Park and recovered a rifle, a hand grenade, a pistol and snatched motorbike from his possession.

“The accused is involved in target killings from 1994 had targeted law enforcers including two army personnel, an official of navy, eight police personnel,” he said adding that he also killed government officials, political workers of various parties, and others.

Ghulam Azfar apprised that Abdul Salam, who was also government employee working at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, had taken cover of Tablighi Jamat many times for escaping from police.

Sharing details of his target killings, the officer informed that Abdul Salam killed 108 people in district West and 3 in East while he was wanted to district Central police in a case of illegal arms and involvement in encounters. Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Dr Syed Kaleem Imam appreciated the SSP-East and his team for the arrest of key criminals in the city.