KARACHI, Oct 20: Most private security agencies allegedly violate the terms and conditions of the Sindh Private Security (Regulation and control) Ordinance 2000 and the Private Security Agencies Rules 2001.

Sources close to the home department told Dawn that most private security agencies did not adhere to such basic rules as getting clearance from government agencies, including the Special Branch, the Inter Services Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau, while hiring security guards.

According to the ordinance, no licensed security agency can hire a guard who has not obtained a clearance certificate after taking a firing test organized by the police department.

The sources said most private security agencies did not follow this important condition.

A police official told Dawn that the test did not take place at all. He added that quite a few security guards did not know how to operate the weapons they carried.

A number of cases have been reported in which either armed bandits relieved security guards of their weapons or robbed people of their money and valuables at gunpoint while the security guards, heavily armed, looked on.

The sources said that guards engaged by private security agencies did not undergo training. “In most cases, recently- engaged guards are sent to clients with weapons. The security agencies has not sought cooperation from the police training schools in the city,” they said.

The police officer told Dawn that ill-trained security guards were often killed when the weapons they did not know how to handle went off.

The sources pointed out that no private security agency could employ a serviceman — even those retired from the Airport Security Force — without first getting clearance from the ministry of the interior. They said most private security agencies did not follow this rule.

High-ranking police officials told Dawn that security guards had been found to be involved in robberies. They added that in some cases the security guards had given wrong addresses to their employers.

The sources said most security agencies employed guards without verifying their domiciles.

The sources said private security agencies, determined to maximise profits, had started to engage guards on daily wages. They added that such measures would not create a sense of security among guards.

They said that under the law private security agencies could not employ a person convicted of any offence “involving moral turpitude or dismissed from government service on charges of misconduct”.

Police officials of the investigation wing said people with criminal background were joining private security agencies in increasing numbers.

They recalled that recently security guards had escaped with cash and valuables worth millions of rupees after smashing the lockers of a private bank located near the Schon Circle in Clifton.

They added that in another case private security guards had broken the lockers of a bank located in an area under the jurisdiction of the Al-Falah police and escaped with the valuables.