43 suspects rounded up

Police round up 43 suspects during a raid in Kuchlak, allegedly in involved in street crime.

QUETTA: Police rounded up 43 suspects during a raid in Kuchlak, an outskirt of Quetta city, on Monday allegedly in involved in street crime.

According to police sources, acting on a tip-off, a team of police personnel formed under the supervision of DIG operation, Hamid Shakil, cordoned off the Killi Nakhel area of Kuchlak. At least 43 suspects had been arrested during the raid in which 200 police personnel had participated.

The suspects were allegedly involved in extortion, land mafia and other petty crimes, a source told adding that they are being questioned, an official said.

The Express Tribune made several phone calls to DIG operation who was leading the operation but in vain.

According to some TV channels, suspects were rounded in connection with Taliban. However, a senior police officer confirmed that police was not successful in the operation and majority of the detained people are Afghan refugees.

Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Eric P Schwartz said that there were 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees living in Pakistan,  while many others were unregistered.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2010.