Link between Peshawar volunteer cops, drug peddlers unearthed

SSP Operations Mansoor Aman says special branch tasked to investigate case

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar police have unearthed links between members of the Police Qaumi Razakar (PQR), drug peddlers and some other criminals, it has been learnt.

Sources in the Peshawar police said that some PQR personnel have allegedly provided information to criminals and drug peddlers, warning them of impending police raids or snap checking on different routes in the provincial capital to evade arrest and capture.

As many as 300 volunteers had been hired by the government in the provincial police force earlier this year to help tackle the then-spiralling novel coronavirus (Covid-19) situation.

However, it has emerged that most of these volunteers were hired without conducting a proper background check by the incumbent government, sources added.

The sources further informed that with the Covid-19 situation improving, most PQR personnel have been stopped from working. But this has not stopped some volunteers who continue to use their position to threaten citizens. Even though when they were hired, the volunteers were given a specific uniform which is different from regular police officers, they started wearing uniforms of the elite force and even the regular police force without any check, they added.

No one from the police department and provincial government has so far taken notice of the issue which is creating a law and order situation in the city, the sources added.

Meanwhile, SSP Operations Mansoor Aman told The Express Tribune that his office has shared a list of PQRs with members of the Special Branch of police to investigate the matter.

If the allegations are proved, those involved in such activities will be dealt with an iron hand, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2020.