GUJRANWALA, Feb 19 More than 200 kite flyers and dealers were arrested in a crackdown around the city on Friday and cases were registered against 65 of them.

They were celebrating Basant despite a ban slammed on the activity by the Lahore High Court and the Punjab government.

Although the Kite Flyers' Association and kite and string dealers assured District Coordination Officer Shahid Niaz during a meeting at his office a few days ago of complete compliance with the ban on Basant, the ban ended up in smoke when people took to the roofs of houses and high-rises on Thursday night and Friday.

Aerial firing was another headache for the authorities implementing the ban on kite flying. Those arrested by police were sent to the central jail. About a dozen people were injured in Basant related incidents.

TWO DROWN Two men drowned when their vehicle fell in the Upper Chenab Canal near Sarroke on Friday. Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Imran and Inamur Rehman were going to Jhelum from Kamoke when their carry van fell in the canal because of speed. Driver Bilal and Imran drowned, but rescuers rescued Rehman.

EXCISE OFFICIALS SNUBBED District and Sessions Judge Sohail Nasir admonished excise officials for sealing the house of a man and detaining his family in the house. The judge told the complainant to deposit outstanding rent to the excise and taxation department. Excise officials on Thursday sealed the rented house of Mohsin Naqvi in Satellite Town for not paying the outstanding dues and detained his family members in the house. Later, a bailiff appointed by the court rescued Naqvi's family. The excise officials apologised for their act.

BAIL PLEA REJECTED An anti-corruption court rejected the bail application of a CIA inspector and four constables involved in corruption for the second time on Friday. CIA inspector Rana Abdul Shakeel and constables Sajjad, Saghir, Asif and Kashif raided a house, arrested some people over gambling and seized Rs1 million stake money.

However, they wrote in the record that they seized Rs45,000 and embezzled the remaining amount. The Anti-Corruption Establishment arrested them when they were found guilty of embezzlement in an inquiry and later sent them to central jail after registration of a case against them.