Pakistan-Australia cricket series: ‘We’re fully prepared to provide foolproof security to visiting team’: CCPO

LAHORE: Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Fayyaz Ahmad Dev has said that the Lahore police are all set to provide foolproof security to Pak-Australia international cricket series starting from Sunday at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore.

“We are ready to provide complete protection to the visiting national and international players as well as spectators of the Pak-Australia cricket series with even more elaborate and improved security plan than the previous ones,” said Dev in a statement issued on Sunday.

He added that the Lahore police have chalked out a comprehensive security plan for all the matches, including one test mach, three one-day and one T-20 International Cricket match to be played in Lahore at Qaddafi Stadium from March 21 till April 05, 2022.

According to the security plan, the CCPO said over 8,000 police personnel of different units of the Lahore police including 10 SSPs, 31 SDPOs, 77 SHOs, 332 upper-subordinates, 204 teams of Dolphin Squad, 107 teams of Police Response Unit (PRU) and more than 6,000 Elite Force officials, including lady constables, would perform security, patrolling and traffic management duties during the matches to ensure foolproof security of the event along with smooth flow of traffic.

The city police chief said the Australian players and officials have been given the status of state guests by the Punjab government. “CCTV cameras around Gaddafi Stadium and parking areas will be made fully operational during the cricket series and security plan and traffic advisory would be enforced in letter and spirit. He said that maximum efforts would be made to least disturb the routine activities of the citizens, traders and businessman during the matches as a zero route would be provided to the teams to ensure their security by containing traffic only during the movements of the teams from residential places to the stadium and vice versa.

According to Fayyaz, a four-tier security would be provided to the citizens who will only be allowed to enter the stadium after complete physical checking process and following the corona SOPs. He added that round-the-clock monitoring of residential places of the teams, routes, matches and movements of players and citizens in and round the stadium will also be ensured through CCTV cameras.

He said the Dolphin Squad, PRU and Elite Force teams would continue their effective patrolling around the specific areas of the city. Snipers have also been deputed on the rooftops to keep an eye on all suspected movements during these matches.

The CCPO further said that search and sweep operations are being conducted on daily basis in the city, particularly around the cricket stadium and designated areas.

He directed the concerned officers to remain in complete liaison with related departments including Punjab Safe Cities Authority, PCB, district administration, allied departments and law enforcement agencies to successfully implement the security arrangements.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022