Details of Karachi’s largest weapons bust

KARACHI: Details of weapons seized during Karachi’s largest bust have been released. On 5 October, police uncovered a large cache of weapons stored underground in a house in Karachi’s Azizabad area.

Weapons seized

• 10 anti-craft gun
• Spare Barrels of 12 anti-craft guns
• Three 12.7 rifles
• Eight 8MM rifles
• 37 LMG rifles
• 09 RPG 7
• 81 SMGs
• Tweleve 7MM rifles
• One 22 rifle
• 22 CHINA RIFLES 7.62
• Seven G3 rifles 
• 05 LMG sniper rifles 
• Two 12 bore shot guns
• 9 Russian sniper rifles 
• Nine 30 bore shot rifles
• Magazines of 170 SMGs
• Magazines of 17 G3 rifles
• Two 22 rifles 

Weapons bust just the beginning

More weapons of the kind seized in Azizabad are likely hidden in the city, investigative sources revealed on Thursday.

Further stocks of such ammunition could also be present in the Azizabad area, the sources said. Presence of such depots of weapons was pointed out by suspects in police custody. The suspects, who were arrested only recently, divulged the information during investigation.

Among the suspects who indicated the weapons cache were some alleged MQM workers, sources said.

According to the investigative sources, weapons of British and Russian origin along with Indian-made jackets were also recovered during Wednesday’s raid.

Meanwhile, a JIT has been formed to investigate the matter. CM Sindh, IG Sindh and DG Rangers are likely to meet on Friday in this regard, the sources said.

Authorities have also decided to widen the search area in an effort to recover more stocks of weapons.

They have also decided to interrogate administrators who ran the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and Nine Zero in 2015.

Leaders of MQM Pakistan and MQM London would also likely be interrogated over the matter, the sources added.

The weapons seized on Wednesday were shifted to the Army's Central Ordinance Depot. It took five police mobiles and two trucks to transfer the weapons.

The army will carry out forensics on the weapons as the police lack the expertise to carry out forensics on heavy weapons such as light machine guns, sub-machine guns and rocket launchers.

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