Punjab Police arrest 11,000 suspects, recover Rs2.86bn in property

Punjab Police arrested more than 11,000 suspects across the province and recovered property worth over Rs2.86 billion, according to a headline UrduPoint published on its website on Monday.

The outlet's full report was not available at the time of filing. It did not say when the arrests were made, over what period, which districts they covered, or which department or officer released the figures.

The amount is about Rs286 crore. The Urdu headline used the word "maal" for what was recovered, a term police statements use for stolen goods, vehicles, weapons or narcotics. The published text did not break down the total, so it is not clear how much was cash, how much was goods, or whether drugs were counted.

No district-wise figures were given, which means the published numbers do not show how the arrests were distributed across Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala or the rest of the province. None of the other reports available carried the same province-wide totals, and the figures could not be independently verified.

Separately, Express News reported that Karachi police arrested nine suspected robbers, six of them injured, in encounters overnight between Sunday and Monday. Police from the Special Investigation Unit, Gulshan-e-Maamar, Pak Colony, Orangi Town and Pakistan Bazaar carried out the operations.

A Karachi police spokesperson, quoted by Express News, said the arrests were made near Sindh Hotel Nadi in the Liaquatabad police limits, at Janjal Goth, at M.C. Cut on Mewa Shah Road, in Sector 6/E of Orangi Town and near Asia Ground in Sector 16 of Orangi Town. Pistols with ammunition, mobile phones, cash, a motorcycle and 400 packets of crystal narcotics were recovered, the spokesperson said.

One of those held, Shiraz Mughal, was described by the spokesperson as an active worker of the extortion group run by Lyari gang commander Samad Kathiawari. He was arrested injured and taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The spokesperson said seven of his companions escaped from the Liaquatabad spot.

Express News reported that the injured suspects were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and the Civil Hospital, and that one was moved by Edhi ambulance.

Neither outlet connected the Karachi operations to the Punjab figures.