GUJRAT: The recently-appointed Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan Tore Nedrebo on Thursday handed over the key of a special vehicle to the Crime Scene Unit (CSU) of the Gujrat police at a ceremony.

The vehicle has been given as part of a project which aims at helping the police trace criminals by lifting the evidence from the crime scene using modern techniques.

The Norwegian government through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had recently funded the provision of latest equipment for the CSU vehicle costing Rs2 million. The UN office installed the equipment in the vehicle and also trained the personnel of the Gujrat police on how to use these instruments effectively.

The Norwegian embassy in Islamabad had earlier funded the construction of a building for the CSU at the Police Lines besides providing computers and other facilities.

Norway assists law enforcers in ‘crime scene operation’

At the Police Lines, Mr Nedrebo, along with members of his delegation, examined the CSU where Gujrat SP Investigation Kamran Mumtaz briefed them.

Speaking to Dawn, the ambassador stressed that evidence-based policing was vital to protect the basic human rights as well as enforcement of law and that’s why the Norwegian government extended its cooperation in the capacity building of the Gujrat police.

He said 40,000 Pakistanis were settled in Norway and serving on prominent positions and a majority of them belonged to Gujrat and that’s why after being posted in Pakistan back in September last, this was for the first time he had opted to visit Gujrat and was glad to see the CSU of the local police.

Ceser Gueses of the UNODC said Norway had been a major supporter of his organisation globally and particularly in Pakistan. He said the technical support his organisation had offered to the Gujrat police was now being extended to whole of Gujranwala region as such projects were being worked out for Sialkot and Gujranwala police.

Sialkot DPO Rai Ijaz Ahmed had urged the UNODC and the Norwegian embassy in Islamabad to launch the project in Gujrat around an year ago when he was posted here as DPO.

SP Kamran Mumtaz said the personnel of the Gujrat police who were trained by the UNODC for effective utilisation of the gadgets were now training the officials of Sialkot, Jhelum and Gujranwala police on how to use these.

However, he said, more resources were required for the enhancement of the capacity since a single vehicle of the CSU was not sufficient for the population of some three million people of Gujrat.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015