ISLAMABAD: Safe City has mounted surveillance to trace over 2,000 most wanted persons, sources told Dawn.

The Safe City Islamabad has collected details of 2,101 most wanted persons from different police wings and units of the capital and Khyber Pakhtukhwa for Facial Detection and Recognition System.

After collecting the details the Nadra was approached for these most wanted persons’ high resolution photographs which were provided to Safe City recently, they added.

These photographs were uploaded in the Facial Detection and Recognition System of the Safe City, they said, adding that the system will raise alarm whenever any of the persons, whose photograph available with the system, catch by the CCTV of the Safe City.

High resolution photograph is required for the system for accurate matching, as the low quality snaps misidentify people, they added.

Among the 2102, 414 most wanted persons committed crime in capital while the 1,688 committed crime in KP, they said, adding the surveillance will help the police to detect and arrest them in connection with their previous criminal activities, besides preventing their future criminal activities.

The Safe City are also collecting details of more such most wanted persons from other provinces and authorities, they said, adding that after getting the details Nadra will approach again for their high resolution photographs, which will be uploaded in the system for surveillance.

A key component of the Safe City is to prevent access and movement of wanted persons and unauthorized vehicles in the city and to minimise the possibility of terrorists attack and criminal activities, they said, adding that the integration of Nadra with the Facial Detection and Recognition System of Safe City was envisaged in the original PC-1 of the project.

However, the key component was negligent since long due to various reasons, the sources said.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023