Allama Mirza Yousuf, banned ASWJ leader Taj Hanfi arrested in LEA crackdown

KARACHI: Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) reportedly arrested the leader of a banned outfit from Lyari on Sunday.

In the latest crackdown, LEAs took into custody Taj Hanif, leader of the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ), sources revealed to Geo News.

Earlier the authorities apprehended Allama Mirza Yousuf Hussain along with nearly 40 suspects in overnight raids in Karachi, police officials said.

Hussain - a prominent scholar - was taken into custody from Nazimabad area of the metropolis and moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Charges against him were not immediately known.

The arrests come a day after police arrested Faisal Raza Abidi, former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator, from his house in New Rizvia Society late Friday night. Abidi was arrested in connection with the killings of two persons in Patel Para area a day earlier.

On Friday, unknown armed motorcyclists had shot two men dead in Karachi's Patel Para neighborhood. The victims were identified as Abdul Baqi - a resident of Balochistan - and Ameen.

Another person was shot dead by unknown assailants in Patel Para on Sunday.

Law enforcers rounded up two suspects in wounded condition from Saeedabad and New Karachi areas overnight. They also nabbed 35 suspects in a search operation conducted in Godhra area, who were taken to a police station for further investigation.

Early Sunday morning LEAs also conducted a search operation in the Nazimabad police station area and took three suspects in custody.