KARACHI: In order to control rising street crime in the province, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to acquire 4,000 devices for E-tagging of repeat offenders involved in street crime and drug trafficking.

The decision was taken during a meeting on the worsening law and order situation in Sindh which was chaired by the CM here on Thursday.

The chief minister decided to implement geotagging and GPS (Global Positioning System) utilisation in order to prevent street and drug-related crimes in the hotspot areas of the city. He also instructed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to provide 14 drones, which were procured last month, to the police in Sukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore, and Shikarpur Districts to monitor the movement of criminals/dacoits and their hideouts.

“I know that the police, with the coordinated support of Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, have made progress in controlling law & order, including street crime in the city and kidnapping for ransom in the Kutcha area but we should take benefit of the latest technology in curbing the crime,” the CM said and added he had already provided enough funds to the police for equipment.

Police given 14 drone cameras to monitor dacoits’ movement in kutcha area, CM told

The meeting was held at the CM House and was attended by provincial ministers, Sharjeel Memon, Nasir Shah, Zia Lanjar, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, SMBR Baqaullah Unar, IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Commissioner Karachi Hassan Naqvi, Adl IG Karachi Imran Yakoob, Secretary Local Govt Khalid Hyder Shah, Secretary Finance Fayaz Jatoi, Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh, Secretary Law, Secretary E&T Saleem Rajput and provincial heads of other law enforcement agencies.

The CM was of the view that our future generations and society at large would fully become prone to the use of drugs if action is not taken, which would consequently lead to crimes and lawlessness.

“I am committed to making Karachi a drug-safe city,” he said. On this, the IG Police told the CM that 574 drug dealers had been identified in the province, of them 299 had been rounded up and put in jail, five were eliminated and 270 were at large but would be arrested soon.

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The CM was told that 4000 devices would be procured for E-tagging of repeat offenders which includes street and narcotics dealers. At this, the CM said that he had given a budget to the police for the installation of trackers in police vehicles that must be ensured. The CM was told that 3302 police vehicles had been equipped with tracker system.

The CM was also told that on his instructions, hotspot areas of street crime and narcotics selling had been identified in most affected districts of Karachi. Necessary installations to carry out geotagging and utilise GPS systems with associated technologies to prevent street crime and drug activities efficiently.

Mr Shah said that he had already issued instructions for monitoring of entry and exit points of the province. Over that he was told that entry/exit points of the province had been provided with facial recognition/ANPR cameras.

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The CM was told that under the first Phase of Karachi Safe City, the work of installation of 1,300 cameras has been started. The CM said that he had already released Rs5.6bn for the Safe City project.

To a question, the CM was told that 14 drones had been purchased and given to Sukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore and Shikarpur Districts police to monitor the movement of criminals/dacoits and their hideouts.

CM Shah directed the police to adopt the technology of laser-guided fencing to log them on the borders. He directed the IG police to coordinate with the National Radio & Telecommunication Corporation, and explore its ways and means and then report him.

The CM was also told that GPS or related technology would be used to forestall the possibility of any drug-related criminal activity through efficient monitoring.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2024