KARACHI:
After years of evading capture and casting a long shadow over southern Punjab’s riverine belt, one of the region’s most notorious outlaws finally surrendered on Friday.
Tanveer Andhar, a criminal with a bounty of Rs 10 million and wanted in over 100 serious cases, surrendered to the Punjab Police as authorities said no organized dacoit gang remained active in Katcha area of the province.
Long described by police as one of the most feared criminals operating in the Indus river belt, Andhar had become synonymous with lawlessness in parts of Rahim Yar Khan and neighboring districts.
Despite his small build, authorities said he was involved in more than 30 murders and a series of high-profile kidnappings and violent attacks.
The Punjab government had put a price of Rs 10 million on his head.
The Andhar gang was considered one of the most dangerous among the 12 dacoit groups that operated in the Katcha belt, a harsh terrain of river islands historically used as a safe haven by armed gangs exploiting provincial borders to evade law enforcement.
According to police records, the Andhar gang was behind several high-profile incidents that sent shockwaves across Punjab and Sindh.
Among them was the kidnapping of 11 passengers from the M-5 highway, as well as the kidnapping of an entire bus with its occupants in Ghotki in December last year.
In 2021, gunmen linked to the group reportedly shot dead nine people at a gas pump in Sadiqabad.
The attack, filmed by CCTV, stunned both provinces. Police said Andhar was directly involved in the killing of five policemen and indirectly linked to the deaths of 12 others in Rahim Yar Khan district.
For years, his ability to evade arrest reinforced the perception of the Katcha belt as a lawless frontier beyond the immediate reach of the state.
DPO Rahim Yar Khan Irfan Samo said the Katcha region has now been cleared of organized crime groups.
“No gang is active in the Katcha region of Punjab anymore,” he said, pointing out that 11 of the 12 gangs had already surrendered, with the Andhar group being the last remaining network.
According to Samo, five members of the gang were killed in clashes with police, while 48 have surrendered so far. The operation, launched in December, was carried out in close coordination with the Sindh police, which he described as instrumental in dismantling cross-border criminal networks operating between the two provinces.
