MUZAFFARABAD: As many as 53 suspects, including a proclaimed offender, were arrested by Dadyal police at the weekend during checking at Dhan Galli, a village at the border of Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Station House Officer (SHO) Dadyal Rashid Habib Masoodi told Dawn that the suspects, who belonged to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were taken into custody either for not being in possession of their identity cards or registration papers of their vehicles.

Since the AJK police conducted checks with the help of intelligence verification access system (IVAS) devices, it has previously arrested a number of people booked in police stations in Punjab and KP for involvement in different crimes, including heinous ones.

Mr Masoodi said that the proclaimed offender had been detained to be handed over to the concerned police station in Punjab, but the rest were pushed back to the territory of Punjab on the orders of Dadyal’s sub-divisional magistrate.

Mr Masoodi reiterated his appeal to the local people not to shelter any criminal or suspicious person in their house, land, or business place or invite or hire them for any kind of labor.

He warned that if any suspect was found in the house, shop, or land of any local or non-local person, strict legal action would be taken against the host.

He also asked the public to keep a wary eye on those involved in suspicious activities, and in case they happened to learn about any criminal activity, inform Rescue 15 or the police station concerned immediately to prove that they were responsible and conscious members of society.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2024