RAWALPINDI: A Special Operation Cell has been established by the Rawalpindi police to arrest dangerous fugitives who absconded abroad and wanted by police in heinous crimes.

The police have been collaborating closely with Interpol to ensure that these POs are captured and extradited to Pakistan.

According to police sources, ever since the Special Operation Cell (SOC) was established, 53 POs of heinous cases have been identified. Of the 53 POs, the cases of seven suspects who were on police wanted list had been forwarded to Interpol to bring them back to Pakistan.

The SOC branch of police has been providing the travel history of POs to the investigating officer. In addition, the IO will be provided NADRA fingerprints, getting the passport from the passport office, Provincial National Identification List (PNIL) of accused, passport control list of PO and finally the red notice is issued by the Interpol to arrest the fugitives.

A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. (A red notice is not an international arrest warrant).

Out of the 53 dangerous fugitives identified by the SOC, the cases of seven POs, forwarded to the Interpol contained the travel history of the suspect which is available on the front desk of every police station.

The SOC has started to identify cases and prepare files to facilitate Investigating Officers (IO’s). Once a PO is identified, the case FIR and other necessary documents are translated more often in English, while when required files are also translated in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, French and other languages.

On the other hand, the City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani held a meeting with senior officers at Police Lions Headquarters.

In the meeting, SSP Operations Kamran Asghar, SSP Investigation, Chief Traffic Officer Beenish Fatima, Divisional SPs, SP Security and SDPOs participated.

CPO Syed Khalid Hamdani directed the participants to ensure the arrests of POs by the local police and the challans of the cases should be consolidated within the stipulated period, negligence in timely challaning of the cases, strict departmental action will be initiated against the investigating officers involved.

He also directed that investigation of serious cases should be directly supervised by SSP Investigation and SDPOs.

The CPO also directed the police to work on the chain of supply of drugs, and all legal requirements should be fulfilled for the punishment of drug dealers.

CPO Syed Khalid Hamdani said that the performance of Rawalpindi police against drugs is remarkable, the crackdown against active gangs should be further increased.

It should be speeded up, ensure the punishment of the accused arrested in cases of robbery, robbery. Rawalpindi police had arrested more than 300 gangs this year, it is also important to punish them, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024