3,312 beggars, 34 facilitators arrested during ongoing year

Islamabad: The Police have arrested 3,312 professional beggars and 34 handlers during its campaign against the menace of begging, a police spokesman said.

Following the direction of IGP Islamabad Qazi Jamil Ur Rehman and DIG (Operations) Afzaal Ahmad Kausar, he said that SSP (Operations) Dr. Syed Mustafa Tanveer constituted special police teams to arrest those backing the professional beggars.

SSP (Operations) said Islamabad police teams arrested 34 handlers of professional beggars during the ongoing year and registered 17 cases under sections of Human Trafficking Act and 328-A. A total of 3,312 professional beggars were also arrested and 75 cases and 141 ‘Kalandra Jaat’ were registered while challans of 502 beggars were submitted in courts.

As many as 2,810 beggars including 810 males, 581 females, 1,386 children and 33 transgender beggars were shifted to Edhi Homes.

SSP (Operations) further told that these facilitators had divided the sectors, signals, intersections and used to drop the beggars in their areas. “Islamabad Police is committed to eradicate this ugly act and all officers have been issued clear instructions to effectively crackdown against those involved in it”, the SSP maintained.