CTP arrest 2,515 beggars

Rawalpindi: City Traffic Police (CTP) Rawalpindi have geared up their ongoing operation against professional beggars and rounded up 2,515 from different city roads.

According to incharge CTP Anti-begging squad Asif, several FIRs were lodged against professional beggars during June while 13 beggar children arrested from the city roads were handed over to Child Protection Welfare Bureau (CPWB). He said that special anti-beggars squads had been constituted to nab the professional beggars.

He said, the squad on the directives of Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) had launched grand operation and rounded up over 2515. Traffic Police were trying to eliminate begging from the city roads and during their efforts, professional beggars were being sent behind the bars, he added.

Out of total nearly 80 per cent beggars roaming in the city are professional. 60 percent beggars caught from city roads were healthy and fit while only 20 percent were disabled persons and 20 were drug addicts, he informed. A large number of beggars were brought to Rawalpindi from far-flung areas of the country and operating through contractors, he said adding, the anti-beggars squad of CTP and Rawalpindi district police were conducting raids at different roads and intersections.