LAHORE, Nov 7: Police launched a crackdown on satellite dish vendors on Hall Road on Wednesday, according to several owners and managers of electronics stores. One owner told Dawn, “We’ve been hearing reports of crackdowns in Islamabad and Karachi, and today plainclothes police officers actually came and harassed us and told us to stop selling dishes.”

He, however, said he would continue to sell dishes illegally and the price for a complete package now stands at Rs20,000.

This was confirmed by two further sources on Hall Road, and another vendor said: “We’re selling receivers and not dishes, which isn’t illegal.”

SP Ahsan Younis of Civil Lines denied the charges. “We’ve had no such orders to carry out any sort of crackdown, and our officers are on friendly terms with the shopkeepers there. I believe these are stories they have cooked up to raise their prices.”