KARACHl: Eleven shops in Saddar and Boulton Market were found robbed on Monday when traders came to open them as their locks were broken despite being sealed by the police authorities for Muharram security, traders said.

The police believed the robbers executed the job after the law enforcers deployment had been called off following the Ashura procession on Saturday evening.

The traders said eight shops in the wholesale medicine market, better known as Kachi Gali, along M.A. Jinnah Road and three others in Saddar were robbed despite heavy deployment of law enforcers in the area until Saturday evening. `Since it was Sunday after the Muharram holidays, the shops were opened on Monday,` said a spokesperson for the Karachi Wholesale Medicine Market.

`But the watchman informed the market association on Sunday that he had found locks of some eight shops broken in the morning. The locks were broken so skilfully that the seals which had been placed by security officials on Muharram 8 to keep shops closed for security reasons were intact. This suggests professionalism of the robbers.

Similarly, the traders said, the three shops in Saddar also met the same fate with loss of clocks and wrist watches worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. They said it all happened despite detailed security arrangements and heavy deployment of law enforcement agencies in the area.

The police authorities believed that their engagements with Muharram-related activities made the burglary possible, but they felt certain they would `reach the robbers very soon` as they had found vital clues to them.

`We have identified the group and we hope to reach them soon,` claimed SP City Zeeshan Siddiqui. `Actually the police were busy with security arrangements of processions and Majalis with limited available force. I think the robbers seized this opportunity and executed the job after police deployment was called off following the Ashura procession.

He said the police had sought details from the traders and their association and found that most of the shops had lost `nominal cash`.