LAHORE: The city police claimed on Thursday to have retrieved over 47,000 kanals of land worth over Rs 60 billion from illegal occupants during the first six months of the corresponding year.
According to a report, the Lahore police claimed that an estimated 47,830 kanals of land worth Rs 60 billion of 411 people was retrieved from January to June 30, 2021. It further claims that a visible decrease in the incidents of burglary, robbery as well as snatching and stealing of vehicles was seen due to smart policing and use of effective monitoring tools including CCTV cameras of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA).
The report says that police arrested as many as 29,782 alleged criminals involved in different crimes during the last six months. Of them, 2,055 accused were allegedly members of 857 active dacoit gangs and the police recovered cash and valuables worth more than Rs 370 million from their possession. Accordingly, police also seized 40 cars, 1,591 motorcycles, 54 other vehicles, 25 laptops and 1,995 mobile phones from the alleged criminals.
During actions against illegal weapons, the report says that police arrested 4,052 alleged criminals and filed 3,685 cases against them in different police stations of the city.
The police also recovered 51 Kalashnikovs, 382 rifles, 211guns, 3330 pistols, 04 carbines, 29 revolvers and more than 40,000 live bullets from these criminals.
While taking actions against the drug peddlers, the police arrested 5,056 criminals and registered 4943 FIRs against them besides recovering over 36 kilograms of heroin, 2,302 kilograms of hashish, 11 kilograms of ICE, 103 kilograms of opium and 56,286 litres of liquor.
Similarly, the police also arrested 2,271 criminals involved in gambling and registered 454 cases against them recovering over Rs 4.8 million as "gambling money".
Moreover, 549 proclaimed offenders (POs) of category A, 4,729 POs of category B, 1,010 Targeted Offenders whereas 1,559 Court Absconders were also arrested during the six months. About violation of the kite flying act, the report claims that police arrested 8,514 persons and seized over 58,000 kites as well as 10,085 strings from their possession.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021