KARACHI: A serving inspector of the Excise Department was arrested on Friday along with seven other suspects over charges of involvement in short-term kidnapping, police said.

East SSP Zubair Nazir Shaikh said that the Brigade police arrested Inspector Hamid and seven others when they were on their way to receive ransom from a citizen. The other suspects were identified as Irfan, Shahzeb, Shaharyar, Amir, Afaq, Jamshed and Zain alias Dogar.

The SSP said that during an initial probe, it had transpired that the suspects used to kidnap citizens for ransom and the gang had been active in the metropolis for the last five months. He said the police had received complaints from three citizens against the held suspects.

Meanwhile, a police spokesperson in a statement said that the suspects had recently kidnapped a citizen and received Rs100,000 as ransom for his release. They used to wear police uniforms during kidnappings. Four pistols and one car were recovered from their custody.

Passer-by shot dead

A teenage passer-by was shot dead while two others were wounded when two groups clashed in Pehlwan Goth of Gulistan-i-Jauhar early on Friday morning, police said.

East SSP Zubair Nazir Shaikh said that a violent clash erupted between two groups over a personal dispute near Husain Imambargah.

As a result, the teenage passer-by, Shahzaib, 18, was killed while two other passersby, namely Noor Sadiq, 18, and Hazrat Bibi, 60, were wounded.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2026