As a result of joint efforts, the Quetta Police, Frontier Corps Balochistan and Pakistan Customs have succeeded in bringing down the crime rate in the provincial capital during the past month, Quetta Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mir Zubair said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference at his office along with Commandant Gazabun Scouts Lt Col Maqbool and Customs Assistant Collector Mumtaz Ali Gangro, the CCPO said curbing targeted killing remained the biggest challenge.
Zubair said following directions from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the police and Frontier Corps launched search operations across the provincial capital and arrested 267 proclaimed offenders and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition. He said all special permits for smuggled vehicles and weapons issued by various intelligence agencies were cancelled while hundreds of illegal or smuggled vehicles were impounded and handed over to customs.
The CCPO said police developed a system of verifying the registration of vehicles at checkpoints through laptops while equipments of forensic laboratory had also been obtained.
He said data from Sindh government and the Balochistan Excise and Taxation Department regarding registration and theft of vehicles had been obtained and was being updated.
He added that in the past, police personnel had to depend on customs and excise departments for verification of registration documents of vehicles, which that took hours. “Now the police department has its own data bank.”
He said 180 persons had been arrested while 474 illegal vehicles, 586 motorcycles, 36 smuggled vehicles, 24 Kalashnikov rifles, two shot guns and 62 pistols had been seized.
Col Maqbool of Frontier Corps said 119 operations were conducted in Quetta without discrimination during the past one month.
He said 87 persons were arrested while a large quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered, including 350 kilogrammes of explosives, 3,500 detonators, 12 hand grenades, six Kalashnikov rifles, three rifles, 97 pistols, three repeaters, 113kgs of hashish, 88kgs of heroin and 686 illegal vehicles (of which 668 were released after verification).
