CHINIOT: Lalian police arrested 33 men during a raid at a dog fight at Chak Bahadur forests where dozens of gamblers had put money at stake on Sunday.

On a tip-off, the raid was conducted at the venue where gamblers had gathered from districts of Khushab, Okara, Jauharabad, Gujrat, Lodhran, Khanewal, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh and Chiniot. Besides Rs146,000 stake money, police also seized nine cars and one motorcycle.

Parvez Pehlwan, a resident of Chak No 138-JB, along with about 12 unidentified gamblers fled in vehicles along with about a dozen dogs.

Lalian police jailed all the 33 gamblers after registering a case against them.

A few days back, the Bhowana police had also raided a cock fight being held near the village Saee Hussain Kayat on the bank of River Chenab and arrested nine people for arranging the fight and gambling.

The police had impounded two vehicles, two motorcycles, one rickshaw and three cocks along with Rs137,300 stake money.

REVIEW: The district police spokesperson Muhammad Ahsan said the crackdown on anti-social elements and criminals had resulted in a 47pc reduction in heinous crimes in 2025, compared to 2024. Police encounters increased by 63pc.

A study of the crime charts in district Chiniot for the years 2024 and 2025 revealed 2025 saw a drastic decrease of 47pc in heinous crimes of murders, attempted murder, robberies, and highway robberies and rapes.

In 2025, a total of 37 people were murdered while 54 were killed in 2024.

The attempted murder cases were 39 as compared to 54 in 2024. There were only five robberies in the year 2025 in the district as compared to 12 cases in the previous year.

The theft and robbery cases decreased to 214 in 2025 from the previous year figure of 465. There were 67 rape incidents in 2024 and the number went down to 57 in year 2025.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026