Ten held as police launch crackdown on display of arms

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have launched a crackdown on so-called VIPs or very important persons displaying automatic guns in public and spreading terror in society.

An official said all the regional and district police officers have been issued directives to go after the individuals who are brandishing automatic weapons in escort cars for the show off in the urban and rural areas of the province. They have been directed to take action against those carrying revolving lights on the cars.

“The operation against those brandishing weapons in public has been launched and officers directed to submit a report on a daily basis. No one will be allowed to spread terror among the public through these tactics,” Capital City Police Officer Abbas Ahsan told The News.

The official said 10 people were arrested on Monday for roaming in SUVs and carrying automatic weapons in Peshawar. “Apart from six AK-47 rifles, one Kalakove, one M4 and three pistols, police have recovered two wireless sets and four revolving lights from the accused during three separate actions in Paharipura and Hayatabad,” another official said.

The official added among the held accused was one Afghan, four were from Peshawar, two from Karak while three from Parachinar. One of the accused was a Pakistan Qaumi Razakar volunteer.

It was learnt that two accomplices of the accused, who had uploaded videos in police uniform on social media, had escaped and raids were being conducted to arrest them. A number of individuals carrying several gunmen in escort cars to impress and terrorise the general public was a new trend.

This trend of roaming with a large number of gunmen, including policemen in many cases or civilians impersonating as cops had become a challenge for the police and other law enforcement agencies.

There are a number of videos on social media of some individuals, political workers or members of the newly rich families being escorted by several gunmen in many vehicles with tinted glasses for show off.

Most of these people and families carry gunmen with an intention to spread terror and later use it for land grabbing through so-called jirgas and many white-collar criminal activities by pressurising the public.