Karachi Saddar rocked by Rs 8 million robbery, raising security concerns

KARACHI: In yet another incident that reflects the rising levels of lawlessness in the city, armed robbers looted Rs 8 million from two employees of an electric company in the Saddar area on Friday.

According to police, Salman, who works at an electric company near Native Jetty Bridge in West Wharf, had sent two of his employees to withdraw Rs80 lakh from a Meezan Bank branch in Keamari.

The employees reached Meezan Bank’s Keamari branch around 4:00 pm. After waiting for some time, the bank’s operations manager, Imran, informed them that the branch did not have sufficient cash available. He further told them that arrangements had been discussed with Meezan Bank’s Panorama Centre branch in Saddar and advised them to proceed there to collect the amount.

The employees arrived at the Panorama Centre branch near Atrium Mall at approximately 5:00 pm and finished the withdrawal by 5:30 pm, taking the money with them in a black bag.

As they were close to the Ruby Jewellers traffic signal on Zeb-un-Nissa Street, two armed men on a motorcycle intercepted them, robbed the cash at gunpoint, and escaped from the location. According to police, the robbers were wearing shalwar kameez and seemed to be aged between 35 to 40 years.

Acting SHO Preedy, Inspector Shah Faisal Khan, confirmed that a case has been registered against the unknown suspects on the complaint of Salman. He said that the police are trying to trace the robbers through the CCTV footage collected from the crime location and its surroundings.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh, Javed Alam Odho, has taken notice of the incident and asked for a detailed report from the Additional Inspector General of Police, Karachi. He ordered the authorities to use all available resources, including modern technology, to arrest the robbers as soon as possible.