On the orders of Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore, Additional IG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, special squads of the Lahore Police have started a crackdown against habitual and professional beggars in an effort to free the provincial capital of this annoyance.
In keeping with its campaign against professional panhandlers, Lahore Police has so far detained 254 panhandlers, comprising 249 men and 5 women, from various parts of the city in cooperation with the Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (PCPWB) and other relevant agencies.
While adult addict beggars were admitted to rehabilitation wards of relevant institutions chosen by the government in this regard, Lahore Police turned over the children beggars to the PCPWB.
In accordance with the “Anti Beggary Act,” Lahore Police have so far this year detained 3,681 professional beggars, comprising 3,518 men and 150 women, and have filed 3,623 cases against them at various police stations throughout the city.
As a result, during the crackdown, the Model Town division police detained 640 beggars while the City division police arrested 763, the Cantt division 546, the Civil Lines division police 425, the Iqbal Town division 546, and the Sadar division 701 beggars. Beggars who obstruct traffic at intersections and traffic signals have been the subject of separate action by the city traffic police, according to The News.
According to the CCPO of Lahore, all divisional SsP have been given the unique responsibility of apprehending professional, falsely disabled, and regular beggars because the majority of them have criminal histories yet pose as beggars. Traffic police officers have been working with Lahore police special units to combat organised crime groups and professional begging.
