LAHORE:On the directions of Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Additional IG Bilal Siddique Kamyana, special teams of Lahore police have been initiating crackdown on regular basis against habitual and professional beggars to free the provincial capital from this nuisance.
Lahore police, in continuation of its crackdown against professional beggars, have arrested 915 beggars including 885 men, 25 women and their five facilitators from different areas of the city during this year till now.
Accordingly, City division Police arrested 261 beggars, Model Town division Police 207, Sadar division 139, Cantt division 134, Civil Lines division arrested 100 whereas Iqbal Town division police arrested 74 beggars this year till now.
These beggars have been taken into custody by Lahore police, in collaboration with district administration, Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau as well as other related departments.
Lahore police handed over the child beggars to the Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (PCPWB) whereas addict adult beggars have been admitted to rehabilitation wards of related hospitals designated by the government in this regards.
The police during last month (January) arrested 617 professional beggars including 611 males and 06 females in ‘Anti Beggary Act’ and registered cases against them at different Police Stations of the city.
Moreover, as many as 337 professional beggars including nine female beggars have been arrested during this present month till now from different areas of the city.
City Traffic police have separately got registered cases against beggars disturbing citizens and the flow of traffic on roads junctions and traffic signals.
The CCPO said that all the divisional SPs have been given special task to arrest professional, fake disabled and habitual beggars as most of them have criminal background but feign as beggars.
The personnel of traffic police have been assisting the special teams of Lahore police to curb professional beggary and organized criminal gangs.
They appealed to the general public to refrain from giving money to these professional and non deserving beggars as most of them are habitual and involved in heinous crimes.