Law and order: Joint team formed to track down 100 criminals

LAHORE:

The city police have formed a team of officials from the operations and investigation wings and started tracking down 100 people wanted in various land grabbing, extortion, and drug peddling cases.

A senior police official working at the Central Police office told The Express Tribune on Saturday that a lot of cases registered against the suspects had been compiled from instructions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He said Sharif had met Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukehra and Lahore Capital City Police Officer Capt (retd) Muhammad Amin Wains last week to discuss ways to control street crime in the city.

He said help would also be sought from other law enforcement and intelligence agencies to arrest the suspects. A co-ordination room had been set up for the operation at the Investigations Headquarters, he added.

Investigation DIG Rana Ayyaz Saleem confirmed that the criminal record of the 100 suspects had been compiled.

He said a standard operating procedure (SOP) had been established to proceed with the crackdown. He said intelligence agencies, the National Database and Regulatory Authority (NADRA) and Criminal Records Office (CRO) branch would be consulted if and when required. The police teams would also coordinate with complainants in cases registered against the suspects, he added.

Saleem said officers were being selected for the crackdown from the operations, investigation wings and the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA). He said the central co-ordination and control room would be operational around the clock. “Officers will perform duties in eight-hour shifts,” he said.

He said cash prizes would be awarded to officers working with the team to incentivise performance. “No other duties will be taken from the officials working on the team,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2015.