LAHORE: The station house officers (SHOs) and the entire teams of three police stations’ front desks were suspended from service on Thursday on reports submitted by undercover officials during a random sting operation launched by the department, Dawn has learnt.

The action was initiated against the SHOs of New Anarkali, Old Anarkali and Data Darbar police stations and their entire front desk staff.

An official privy to the information said that the approval to initiate the operations at all the 84 police stations of the provincial capital was granted in a meeting headed by the DIG operations the other day.

He claimed that the operation was the first such action launched at the police station-level after the department received multiple complaints.

The complainants had claimed that the front desk staff, in connivance with police officials, were gaming the system by not e-tagging citizens’ applications and avoiding to register their cases.

He said the matter came to light when a complainant appeared in an open court of DIG Operations Faisal Kamran and said that his application was not being e-tagged and he had to shuffle between the front desk staff and police officials at the Johar Town police station. The citizen had said that he visited the police station for three consecutive days but the front desk staff had allegedly refused to e-tag his complaint against a suspect who had snatched his laptop and other valuables.

The official said that the DIG got the matter verified through his staff and formed a committee to investigate the matter. In light of the reports, the SHO and the entire staff of the Johar Town police station had been suspended, he added.

Following the case, the DIG, in an emergent meeting, accorded approval to launch sting operations in all the police stations of the city. He said the designated undercover officials visited the aforementioned police stations a few days back and found that the front desk employees refused to e-tag their mock applications. In light of the reports, the DIG suspended SHOs of these police stations besides the entire front desk staff, he added.

The official explained that the e-tag system was operated through the Complaint Management System (CMS) and Police Station Record Management System (PSRMS). It helped citizens to track the status of their application online, the official said, adding that every application was then monitored until it reached a logical conclusion. As per the standard operating procedures (SOPs), police officials were bound to conclude the e-tagged financial complaints within three days of their submission and others within 24 hours. The SHOs had the responsibility to supervise the entire process, he added.

To a question, he said that the teams had been directed to continue the sting operations randomly in police stations of the city.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2026