SAHIWAL, April 18: Seven hardened criminals broke the lockup of Chichawatni Sadar police station on Monday and fled.

Police later arrested seven of their colleagues, including Station House Officer (SHO) Allah Ditta, for negligence.

Those who fled the police custody included Arshad, Shahbaz, Akram and Imtiaz who were arrested in a kidnap-for-ransom case, and Nawaz, Saif and Shahzad, alias Mithu, in murder cases. Police had detained them in the lockup for interrogation.

According to a source, a few visitors came to the police station to see the arrested people at 2am and they offered intoxicated sweets to police officials and inmates. When police officials fell unconscious, they cut iron bars of the lockup and fled with the detainees.

When the matter was brought into the notice of senior officials, Sahiwal police chief Muhammad Ayaz Saleem formed two teams to trace the criminals. He also ordered the arrest of Chichawatni police staff.

The police arrested seven officials – SHO Allah Ditta, constables Murtaza, Muhammad Ramzan, Khalid Mahmood, Zulfiqar Ali and Muhammad Amin and ASI Muhammad Azim – under sections 223, 224, 22, 225A and 155 (C) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Police Order 2002 for showing negligence in official duty.