New introduction: Drones to track kite-fliers in Pindi

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi police on Friday introduced drones with fitted cameras to hunt down and track kite-fliers in the city.

The drones will be used to capture video footage from a vintage point in the sky which would not normally be possible to identify kite-fliers, who fly kites from rooftops, in streets or from any other elevated places.

On Friday, a much see-saw was witnessed between the police and the kite-fliers, who gave tough time to personnel of law enforcement agencies and avoid being arrested.  Kites of several hues and colours could be seen hovering in the sky while police officials remained busy setting up ‘observation points’ atop high-rises to fly the drones.

City Police Officer Israr Abbasi, who himself monitored the newly introduced drones, said that introducing camera-fitted drones was to discourage the kite flying sport and aerial firing in the city. He said that the police officials have also been provided night vision goggles to keep an eye on violators. He said that iron kite strings cause several serious incidents and many people have lost their lives in the past. He appealed to the people to cooperate with the police to get the city rid of the menace. Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi police arrested 39 people for flying kites and seized 2638 kites from their possession. The police also registered cases against the arrested people and put them behind bars.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2016.