Karachi: Eighteen held for extortion in the name of Taliban

KARACHI: The Karachi police have detained at least eighteen so-called Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) activists for exploiting public fear of the banned militant outfit for extorting money from businessmen, traders, and citizens at large, Geo News reported.

The police supported by Rapid Reserve Force purged Ittehad Town of these phoney Taliban, said sources giving details.

In the operation, which zeroed in on an extortion-stricken part of main Baldia Town, law enforcers also some seized small firearms and improvised explosive devices (IED).

They recovered about eight .30 caibre pistols, four tennis ball bombs, and a seven kilogram pressure cooker bomb.

According to sources these fake Taliban are allegedly involved in bombing a school in Baldia Town, killing uniformed policemen, and other felonies.

It was further revealed that the held men in fact belong to different outlawed groups but used TTP’s name to scare the hard-earned money out of the people.

In order to avoid any backlash, the police used an armoured vehicle to shift the suspects to Ittehad Town Police Station.