KARACHI -  An enraged mob burnt an alleged robber to death on the outskirts of the city on Sunday.

Separately, police killed a suspected drug peddler in an alleged encounter.

In another incident, the Sindh Rangers arrested four suspected criminals, including a member of a political party, on Sunday.

In the first incident, a mob lynched a suspected robber in the Landhi neighbourhood after he and his accomplice attempted to rob a milk shop. The robbers opened fire at the shopkeeper when he put up resistance during the robbery. However, the shopkeeper remained unhurt. Hearing the gunshot, scores of people gathered at the crime scene and managed to catch one of the suspected robbers. The mob severely tortured the suspect and then burnt him to death at the scene. The suspect succumbed to his injures before police reached the scene. Police reached the scene after a considerable delay and shifted the suspect’s body to Edhi morgue for identification after completion of medico-legal formalities at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The East Zone police chief, DIG Arif Hanif, said a case would also be registered against the mob for taking the law into their hands instead of handing over the robber to the police. No arrest had been made till Sunday evening when this report was filed for publishing.

In the second incident, a suspected member of a drug mafia was killed in PIB Colony. Two policemen were wounded in the alleged exchange of fire in the Old Sabzi Mandi area. Police officials said the encounter took place when the police conducted a raid on a tip-off on the narcotics den allegedly run by Ahmed Ali Magsi. The members of the drug mafia allegedly opened fire at the police and injured policemen Talat Asim and Noman Mazhar. The police also retaliated and killed an alleged member of the gang and injured two others. The suspect killed was later identified as Saleem alias Tension. His injured accomplices managed to flee during the shootout.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary force, Sindh Rangers, conducted targeted raids in Jamshed Town, Lyari, New Karachi, Malir and Nazimabad areas. According to the Rangers spokesperson, during the raids, the troops arrested four criminals, including one belonging to the militant wing of a political party and one associated with the Lyari Gang War. Weapons and ammunition were also seized from them, the spokesperson said.