Search operation: Police arrests 100 suspects, 30 unregistered Afghans

Substandard engine oil factory also raided.

PESHAWAR: Police arrested 130 suspected persons, including 30 unregistered Afghan refugees, during a search and strike operation on Monday. DSP Rokhan Zeb said the operation was carried out in areas within the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station.

The police raided various houses and arrested 130 suspects, including a suspected target killer, along with 30 Afghan refugees residing in the provincial capital sans Proof of Registration cards. Zeb said arms and ammunition were also found during the operation.

The DSP shared a substandard engine oil factory was also found from where four persons were arrested. He added hundreds of litres of substandard oil were seized during the raid.

In the wake of the Army Public School carnage on December 16, 2014, law-enforcement agencies intensified operations against unregistered Afghan nationals.

According to authorities, over 10,000 people have been arrested so far, including 4,000 Afghans residing in the country. Around 2,000 of them have been deported, said officials.

On March 11, Afghan authorities, including Ambassador Janan Mosazai and Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi, met with the K-P governor and chief minister as well as officials of the interior and SAFRON ministries. They discussed the issue of harassment of refugees along with solutions for their dignified repatriation to Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.