ISLAMABAD: Three suspects involved in car theft were fatally shot by their own accomplices in Islamabad on Sunday morning.
The Islamabad Police spokesperson stated that law enforcers had been pursuing suspects from a dangerous gang involved in vehicle theft.
The spokesperson said they gathered information about the gang through human sources and Safe City surveillance cameras. They had even mapped the route of their travel pattern, the official added.
Sources tipped off the police that the gang had left for Murree, prompting the Anti Vehicle Lifting Cell (AVLC), CRT, and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) teams to set up special checkpoints at various locations, said Islamabad Police.
“This morning, the gang members traveling in vehicles opened fire on police teams as they tried to stop their vehicle coming from Murree Road at Kashmir Chowk,” said the police spokesperson.
The official said the suspects were traveling in two vehicles, a Corolla GLI and a Honda Civic.
Firing from their vehicle killed three of the gang members traveling in another car and wounded a passerby woman, the official said, adding that the culprits in the first car fled.
The bodies and the injured were immediately shifted to the hospital for medico-legal formalities and treatment, respectively.
Two of the deceased have been identified as Ilyas Khan and Waqas Khan, both residents of Charsadda, while the third body had not been identified at the time of the report. Ilyas was the ringleader of the gang, said police. The wounded person has been identified as Haseeba Amjad.
“It was a large inter-provincial gang involved in car theft, stealing vehicles in various cities from Karachi to Islamabad,” said DIG Operations Ali Raza Syed.
The officer said informants were constantly updating law enforcers about the gang’s movements in Murree. From their travel routine, the police knew they would take the route of Murree Road, then Srinagar Highway, to reach Charsadda via the motorway.
Police stated that the suspects stole the Corolla vehicle from Murree last night, while the Honda car was stolen from Lahore. They recovered several number plates, jammers, mobile phones, an ignition breaker, an SMG gun, and pistols from their vehicle.
