Criminal Count: 8,332 proclaimed offenders at large in Faisalabad

Out of 8332 proclaimed offenders, 6709 have been linked to crimes as fraud, theft, cheating, cattle lifting.

FAISALABAD:

Local police officials have failed to arrest as many as 8,332 proclaimed offenders (POs) wanted by the police in various crimes.

As a result of the failure to arrest the criminals, the prosecution branch has also had to stall proceedings in dozens of related cases. Out of 8,332 proclaimed offenders, 6,709 have been linked to crimes involving fraud, theft, cheating, cattle lifting, embezzlement and fraud charges. Over 1,623 offenders wanted for murder, robbery, kidnapping and robbery are currently at large. Despite several directives issued by the Inspector General Police, Punjab and various courts, police have not been able to arrest the accused. Capital Police Officer (CPO) Rao Tahir Husain, said that the performance of police staff deputed for the arrest of the POs was being monitored and efforts were underway to evolve a workable strategy to rectify the situation.  The CPO said that new measures were underway to ensure a target-orientated search for the criminals within the next 90 days. The CPO assured the men would be caught soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2011.