Chotu gang was a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...

that engaged in

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

gun-running Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal tra ...

and highway robberies led by Ghulam Rasool who goes by the alias, "Chotu." The gang was based in the Kacha area of

Rajanpur Rajanpur is a city and the headquarters of Rajanpur District in the far southwestern part of Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, Pakistan. The district lies entirely west of the Indus River. History Rajanpur was founded by Sheikh Rajan Shah, the Makhdoom ...

. This gang was involved in many crimes in areas surrounding areas of the Rajanpur. The gang was also known for abducting people from

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

and

Rahim Yar Khan Rahim Yar Khan (; ) is a city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 21st most populous city in Pakistan and is the capital of the Rahim Yar Khan District. The city's administration is div ...

. Punjab Police conducted multiple operations against them, all of them ending in smoke. Punjab Police held the first operation in 2010, that continued for three months without getting the required results. Punjab police also held an operation in 2013. The gang used light and heavy weapons procured from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, including

light machine guns A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the ...

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

s and an

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

Operation Zarb-e-Ahan Operation Zarb-e-Ahan was an operation conducted jointly by the Pakistan Army, Punjab Rangers and Punjab Police. The operation targeted the Chotu gang, a band of dacoits (bandits) who regularly committed murders, kidnappings, and highway robber ...

In April, the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

launched an operation named

against Chotu gang. Resources said that previously four operations launched against Chotu gang were all successful on a small scale. The gangsters had put up a fierce resistance and indiscriminately fired on the law enforcers, killing 7 and kidnapping 18, including the

SHO Sho, Shō or SHO may refer to: Music * ''Shō'' (instrument) (笙), a Japanese wind instrument * ''Kane'' (instrument) (鉦), a Japanese percussion instrument * Sho?, a Dubai rock band People * Shō (given name), including ''Sho'' * Shō (su ...

Punjab Rangers The Punjab Rangers (formally Pakistan Rangers (Punjab)) () is a federal paramilitary force in Pakistan. It is one of nine Civil Armed Forces and is one of two Ranger forces with the other one being the Sindh Rangers, which operates in Sindh, Si ...

fired

mortar Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

rounds to halt any advance of the Chotu gang, who were using 24 captured police officers as human shields. After the involvement of the army on backup, the police had been successful in killing 54

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word डाकू (ḍākū); "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with the meaning "a robber belonging to an armed ...

s., successfully making the gang surrender, which led to the arrest of them and their leader. The police officers who were previously kidnapped, were later released by the gang.

Chotu Gang in the media

Geo Sar Utha Kay ''Geo Sar Utha Kay'' () is a 2017 Pakistani action-drama film directed and produced by Nadeem Cheema under his production banner Cheema Films. The film was written by Nasir Mehmood. Veteran actors Babar Ali, Shafqat Cheema, Nayyer Ejaz and Ras ...

is a Pakistani film which is based on Chotu Gang.

Court trial

An anti-terrorism court on March 12, 2019, awarded the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

on 18 counts to 20 gangsters, including members of notorious Chotu gang and the ring leader, Ghulam Rasool, for killing six policemen in Rajanpur Kacha area in 2016. Two other convicts, Qasim and Abdul Samad, who were below the age of 18, were awarded life imprisonment on 19 counts. Other gangs, whose members were awarded death sentences, included Sikhani gang, Inder gang and Changwani gang among others. The convicts included Ghulam Rasool alias Chotu, his brother Pyara, Nadir, Deen Muhammad, Khalid alias Khaldi, Ishaq alias Bilal, Akram alias Akri, Ghulam Haidar, Hakim, Razzaq, Majid, Nasir, Sher Khan, Jumma alias Bhutta, Rasheed, Behram, Bashir, Abdul Wahid, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Hussain Bakhsh. The convicts were awarded death sentence on six counts under Section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code, six counts under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and another six counts under Section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act 1908. The convicts were also charged with Rs. 6.2 million fine each or undergo additional imprisonment in case of default. All the 22 convicted would also undergo life imprisonment.

References

{{reflist, 30em Organised crime groups in Pakistan Law enforcement operations in Pakistan