• Amir’s mother Wajeeha confirms remains belong to her son.
• SIU launches crackdown in connection with Armaghan drugs case.
• FIA investigate Armaghan’s connections to money laundering.

The initial DNA profiling report has confirmed that the human remains recovered during the exhumation at the Edhi Cemetery on Friday belonged to Mustafa Amir, who was allegedly murdered after his disappearance in January. 

The charred human remains — found by police in a car near the Hub checkpost on January 12 and buried by the Edhi Foundation on January 16 — were exhumed on Friday by a three-member medical board under the supervision of a judicial magistrate.

The case relates to the alleged kidnapping and murder of the youngster, a BBA student, who had gone missing on January 6, 2025. The whole saga unfolded after Armaghan opened fire at a team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) — a specialised unit of the Karachi police responsible for tackling cases related to murder and extortion — during a raid at his residence in Karachi’s DHA earlier this month.

After the confirmation of the body’s identity, it was handed over to the family, who would hold a funeral after the Asr prayers today (Sunday) at Masjid-e-Ali, Main Khayaban-e-Muhafiz, Phase VI, DHA. 

Mustafa’s grieving mother Wajeeha also confirmed that the remains recovered during the exhumation belonged to her son. The body had been kept at the Edhi morgue after the exhumation.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has launched a crackdown in connection with the Armaghan drugs case, arresting a suspect identified as Sahir Hassan, son of a renowned television actor.

SIU chief SSP Shoaib Memon confirmed the arrest, saying that Hassan was arrested at his residence in Defence with half a kilogramme of the drug Veet. He pointed out that this is the first arrest in the case but more are expected soon.

SSP Memon clarified that while the suspects were involved in large-scale drugs trade and consumption, there is no indication of links to international networks or dark web operations. “Drugs were being dealt at a significant level, but not to the extent of an international syndicate.”

It is worth mentioning that the Mustafa Amir murder case is being investigated by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC), which falls under the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA), while the investigation into the drug-related activities of prime suspect Armaghan has been assigned to the SIU, which also falls under the CIA.

The inquiry into the large cache of weapons recovered from Armaghan’s house and their possible use in criminal activities, and their legality and licences has been handed over to the Counter Terrorism Department. 

Moreover, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is being involved in investigating Armaghan’s connections to digital currency, money laundering and call centre operations.

The two suspects, Armaghan and Sheraz, who was complicit in allegedly killing and later disposing off the youngster’s body, are currently under interrogation in police custody. The police had acquired a five-day extension in the physical remand of the suspects.  

Sheraz’s statement

A video statement of co-accused Sheraz, who was arrested in the Mustafa Amir case, has once again cast doubts on Mustafa’s cause of death. 

As per the initial statements by the suspects, Armaghan had beaten Mustafa with a rod at his residence and then both him and Sheraz had shifted the critically injured youth to his car and drove him to Hub, Balochistan, before burning him alive with the car. 

In a recent statement circulating on different media, Sheraz explicitly claimed that Mustafa was still alive when he was beaten at the bungalow and put in the car.

He said that had the victim received immediate medical attention or been taken to a hospital, he might have survived. However, after a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Balochistan, the car was set on fire with Mustafa inside.

Sheraz also mentioned that before setting the car on fire, Armaghan briefly opened and closed the trunk. 

According to him, Armaghan took only a second to do so.

His statement that it took only a second to open and close the trunk suggests that it would have been nearly impossible for Armaghan himself to determine whether Mustafa was conscious, unconscious or already dead.

On the other hand, police initially relied on postmortem and chemical examinations following the exhumation, hoping to establish if Mustafa was alive when the car was set on fire.

However, that hope has now diminished, as the exhumation board confirmed that the body was so severely burnt that determining the exact cause of death was nearly impossible. As a result, the investigation remains at a standstill, with the authorities left only with speculations regarding the circumstances of Amir’s death.