FAISALABAD, Jan 25: Transportation of grey-cloth and yarn after dusk has been banned by local police which also directed the factory owners to close the main gates of their units immediately after sunset.

The steps had been taken in order to check escalating crime rate, official sources told this correspondent on Sunday. Dacoits and robbers have looted yarn and cloth, worth over Rs15 million, from 15 industrial units during the last couple of weeks.

Trade leaders and associations of industrialists had approached the governor and the chief minister who directed the police to arrest the crime graph. Source said that the district police officer had issued instructions to all the SHOs, patrol parties and the special anti-dacoity squads to ensure that the industrialists close the main gates of their units immediately after sunset.

The police also directed the factory owners not to move their vehicles containing cloth or yarn after sunset. A number of SHOs confirmed the orders of the DPO claiming that the steps were being taken to control the dacoity and robbery incidents in the factories.

A large number of the owners of powerloom, sizing, dying, calendering, finishing and printing units said that the police had asked them not to open the gate of their factories after sunset and also do not transport cloth and yarn after dusk.