Gang leader shot dead in Karachi encounter

Paramilitary Rangers on Thursday announced that Noor Mohammad alias Baba Ladla, one of the kingpins of the Lyari gangs, was killed along with two of his accomplices in an armed encounter during a raid on Thursday morning.

Ladla earned notoriety as the top commander for Uzair Baloch, the don of Lyari, who was arrested by police last year for executing rival gang members and those who refused or failed to pay ransom or extortion money.

A press statement said the Pakistan Rangers Sindh received reliabel information that the Lyari gang commander was present in Phool Pati Lane.

“The terrorists fiercely resisted the Rangers with automatic firearms and hand grenades, [in an encounter] that lasted for 35 minutes,” the statement said.

“In the exchange of fire one of the most wanted and notorious commanders, Noor Mohammad alias Baba Ladla, died along with his two other accomplices — Sikandar, alias Sikko, and Mohammad Yaseen, alias Mama,” the Rangers said

The law enforcement agency said Ladla was the most wanted person, known for running torture cells to permeate fear.

He was wanted by the police for 74 crimes.

Listing some of his murder charges, the Rangers said Ladla was wanted for the killing of Arshad Papu, another gangster of Lyari, as well as the deaths of Yasir Arafat and Shera Pathan, whose bodies were desecrated and then burnt to ashes.

He was also involved in murdering Haji Aslam, a resident of Dalmia neighbourhood, where he was killed along with five other people including his sons.

Ladla was also wanted over an attack on a police unit in 2012 ,in which constables Fayyaz and Tufail were killed.

He was also accused in the execution of three ethnic Mohajirs in 2013.

The Rangers also listed a list of crimes committed by Sikko and Mama, the accomplices.

“The killing of the Ladla group serves as an example for those young people, who would have joined the crime world after being inspired by people like him,” the Rangers said.

“They have been warned that they would not escape from the firm hold of law w as the Rangers shall continue its operation against such elements,” the Rangers said.

Ladla remained a symbol of horror in the Lyari area as the top executioner for Uzair Baloch, who fled to Iran after an organised crackdown was launched by the law enforcement agencies in 2013.

While in hiding Baloch and Ladla developed differences over their looted fortune, and their respective gangs started targeting each other, it is said.

Baloch was later arrested by Interpol from the Middle East and extradited to Pakistan, where he was booked in an illegal weapons case

source : gulfnews