Woman among 6 ‘patrons of beggars’ held

Police claim suspects forced children into begging

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad Police launched a crackdown against a mafia forcing women and children to beg in the streets and living on their earnings. In the last 24 hours, five men and a woman were arrested for running beggars gangs in different parts of the capital. Shehzad town police station made a big breakthrough when they apprehended Ishfaq alias Shaka, a convicted criminal who forced children belonging to the Pir Wadhai area to beg on Lehtrar Road, Paracha Chowk, Sanam Chowk and Taramri Chowk.

He would pocket the proceeds giving them meagre handouts. A police spokesman said on Tuesday that Golra, Industrial area and Shehzad town police officials nabbed four handlers of beggars identified as Ghulam Yaseen, Azam, Majid and Imran. They had divided Islamabad’s sectors, traffic signals and the federal capital’s main chowks for begging activities. Two of the arrested men --Ghulam Yaseen and Majid -- used children belonging to the slum area of Golra at various signals and chowks, police said. They would pocket the lion’s share and protect the beggars if the city authorities came after them.

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Another of the arrested men, Imran was using children for the same purpose in Sector F-11. The Industrial area police arrested a woman, Sapna Rani, using children and women for begging activities. Police have registered cases against the arrested persons. SSP (Operations) Dr Syed Mustafa Tanveer has said persons found backing the professional beggars' racket would be dealt with an iron hand. He said strict action would be taken against beggars found around commercial centres, signals and other business areas.