ATC awards death sentence to murder convict

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday awarded death sentence to a murder convict who was arrested by Rangers five years ago, ARY News reported.

The convict was awarded death sentence in the light of evidences furnished by Rangers. Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui belongs to terror outfit al-Qaeda, and he had also killed two foreigners.

He was also awarded sentence for a bomb blast and his family was directed to pay Rs 200,000. Siddiqui was also given seven-year sentence for possessing illicit weapons.

Read also: Rangers capture five RAW-affiliated militants in Karachi

Rangers had arrested Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui from North Nazimabad area in 2014. Explosives were also recovered from his possession.

The paramilitary force had been arresting several hardened criminals and terrorists of banned outfits for years especially after crackdown on criminal elements couple of years ago.

In 2017, the paramilitary force had apprehended five ‘hardened militants’ in an anti-terror operation conducted on a tip-off in Mawach Goth area, saving the city from “massive destruction”.

Colonel Qaiser of Sindh Rangers had said “we had an intelligence reports that operatives of al-Qaeda Sub-continent had entered the city.”

The Rangers had launched an operation after the tip-off and arrested five terrorists, besides seizing 8-kg of explosives, one suicide vest and four ball bombs. He said the terrorists were handled by India’s spy agency Research Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS).