An outlet of a premier international fast food chain “Burger King” was robbed in broad daylight a little while back. The branch is located in Karachi’s upscale Boat Basin area.
Eyewitness Junaid Kamran talking exclusively to Photonews stated that two men who appeared to be ethnic Pushtoons walked into the outlet during Friday prayer break. While a third stood guard outside.
“It took me a second to register what a man with a chambered TT was doing in a Burger King Outlet while screaming obscenities, Initially I thought it was a target killing incident. And I realised that these were cold blooded killers”. He remarked.
All three of them were clad in white shalwaar kameez and appeared to be in their 20s. Holding all the patrons and the staff at gun point, two of them cleaned out the counter, while the other one stood guard at the entrance. The bandit at the counter did not, once he was done stop at the cash register, but proceeded to strip the patrons of all their valuables. The restaurant was jam packed during the lunch hour and a lot of ladies were present as well who were not spared by the criminals.
Within minutes they decamped with the booty. The haul is estimated to be around a few hundred thousands at least, of which Rs. 45,000 was in the till.
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They went about their work with perfect calm and afterwards, gave a short speech as to the “dangers of trying to follow them” and then simply walked off the premises.
The outlet in question is located within walking distance of the heavily guarded Bilawal house complex and is traditionally considered a ‘secure area’.
It is not clear if the Burger king administration had CCTV cameras installed. However the area manager showed up and graciously treated the recently robbed patrons to ice cream and cakes.. On the house.
The chain of eateries located at Boat basin each have their own armed guards. All of whom had gone to offer Friday congregational prayers. Trusting God to take care of the patrons. This incident is part of an increasing trend of robberies and muggings in Karachi’s upscale Clifton, Defence areas.
However, even as the citizens struggle against the new crime wave, the state is enthusiastically trying to deweaponise Karachi by removing licensed firearms from the hands of law abiding citizens. Effectively leaving us at the mercy of criminals and their overlords.
