No record of 507 weapons licences found, police say

GUJRANWALA:

Police have submitted a report of 507 forged weapons licences to the Gujranwala DCP for verification, Operations SSP Ali Zia told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

He said under the National Action Plan, teams had been formed to check weapons licences. He said in Gujranwala, a team supervised by SSP Operation Capt (r) Ali Zia and CIA SP Tahir Maqsood Cheema had checked 2,000 licences over two months and found that there was no record for 507 licences with the CIA and the CRO branch. He said most weapons issued under these licenses were pistols and some Kalashnikov rifles.

He said police had formed a team to take action against weapons dealers in Kamoke, Wazirabad, Gujranwala and Qila Dedar Singh, where it was believed that many weapons were sold illegally. He said the team, led by Cheema, had seized dozens of weapons in raids at shops and factories. He said their licences were cancelled. He said several weapons dealers from other provinces selling weapons in Gujranwala had also been arrested.

He said police had sent a report about 507 forged licences to the DCO for verification. He said some of the older licences dated back to 1990s and more recent ones included some made in 2014. “If no record of these licences is found, they would be cancelled,” he said. He said 250 licences had no date of issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2015.