KARACHI: A Karachi court acquitted alleged Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Jan Baloch in a case related to the smuggling of a large cache of weapons and ammunition from Balochistan, citing insufficient evidence.
During the hearing, Uzair Baloch’s counsel argued that the allegations against his client were unfounded and that the prosecution had failed to establish any link between him and the recovered weapons. Defence lawyer Haider Farooq Jatoi maintained that the case was baseless and urged the court to acquit his client of all charges.
The prosecution told the court that on May 7, 2012, police arrested a suspect, Shamsuddin, and recovered a significant quantity of arms and ammunition from his possession. Investigators claimed that Shamsuddin had confessed to sourcing the weapons from Balochistan on the instructions of Uzair Baloch and another Lyari gang leader, Baba Ladla.
However, Uzair Baloch was formally nominated in the case in 2021, years after the alleged incident, following his arrest via Interpol from Dubai. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court ruled that the prosecution had failed to present credible evidence to substantiate the charges, leading to Uzair Baloch’s acquittal.
In popular culture, Uzair Baloch’s name has also surfaced in discussions surrounding the upcoming film Dhurandhar. The movie reportedly features a fictional gangster character that some viewers and commentators have loosely associated with real-life underworld figures from Lyari. The filmmakers, however, have clarified that Dhurandhar is not based on any individual and that its characters are fictional composites created for storytelling purposes rather than biographical portrayals.
