LAHORE, March 6: The city police claimed on Monday to have arrested over 300 people in the last three days on charges of using prohibited material in kite flying.

Of the 300, 193 men were rounded up on Monday, said Operations police SSP Aamir Zulfikar Khan, adding that the arrests were being made as part of a campaign ordered by AIG Khwaja Khalid Farooq.

Punjab IGP Ziaul Hasan Khan also presided over a meeting at his office, and directed all police heads in the province to launch a crackdown on the users of the prohibited material. He asked them to make public representatives part of the campaign, who could play a better role in convincing people about not using metal and chemical strings in kite flying. He directed them to set up joint teams of police and union council Nazims to raid violators.

The IGP said the SPs and SHOs concerned would be held responsible for causalities or any other kite-related incident in future. He warned them of strict departmental action in case of prohibited material’s sale in their areas.

Those rounded up in Lahore on Monday included 56 in City police division, 50 in Model Town, 47 in Sadar and 40 in Cantonment. A total of 176 cases were registered against the violators.