HYDERABAD, June 4: District Police Officer (DPO) Imran Shaukat on Monday called for tougher laws against the sale and manufacturing of mainpuri and gutka and suggested making the offence non-bailable.

He said at a news conference at his office about arrest of three accused allegedly involved in street crime that mainpuri and gutka were being sold in the city despite ban. The offence was at present bailable and "I even found an accused in possession of mainpuri in the police lock-up."

About arrests of the three alleged robbers, the police official said that the three, Nawaz Khan (Peshawar), Waseem Kaimkhani (Umerkot) and Rashid Kaimkhani (Unit-10 Latifabad) were arrested by a Latifabad police party from behind Bilal Palace in Unit-7 following a botched attempt at robbery.

Late on Sunday night the three deprived one Fahad of Rs2,500 and then robbed two others of their cellphones and some cash. The victims called the Madadgar-15 but the accused had fled before the police party reached the crime scene.

In the meantime, one Iftikhar informed Madadgar-15 that three unidentified armed men had tried to deprive him of a mobile phone and cash in Unit-2 of Latifabad but when he put up resistance the accused fled towards Latifabad Unit-7.

The DPO said that the SHOs of concerned police stations blocked roads and started snap-checking. Not long afterwards, a police team arrested the accused from behind Bilal Palace in Unit-7 of Latifabad with weapons and cellphones.

The accused confessed that they were involved in street crimes in other parts of the province also, he said.