LAHORE, Aug 15: DIG Operations Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said on Monday the police were not responsible for providing security to foreigners unless they registered themselves with the local police.

Talking to reporters after a news conference at his office, he said it was the responsibility of the sponsors to get foreigners registered with the police for seeking security.

He said the police would then decide after examining any foreigner’s credentials and his status if he be given security or advised to hire private guards.

Dogar said the role of private security companies was being activated, adding that each foreign company/organisation would be bound to provide information about its projects and other services so that law-enforcement agencies might react timely whenever the need arose.

“Had we known about Warren Weinstein’s residence and his activities, the circumstances would have been quite different,” he said, adding that Mr Weinstein neither got himself registered with the police nor bothered to inform his own Embassy.

The DIG said all SHOs had been directed to regularly visit foreigners’ residences and check their security arrangements like proper installation of CCTV cameras and capacity of private security guards, especially their ability to tackle such emergency situations.

Meanwhile, police claimed to have busted a gang of four members involved in robbery at the residences of a woman MPA and two lawyers and seized from them cash, valuables, two motorcycles and a car worth Rs2.5 million besides illegal weapons.

DIG Ghulam Mehmood Dogar flanked by Model Town SP (Operations) Malik Muhammad Awais told a news conference at his office on Monday that the gang, which was busted seven days after the robbery at MPA Saima Chaudhry’s house, used to operate in different districts of Punjab and other provinces.

He said Sonain alias Sono of Sarfaraz Town, Korangi (Karachi), Akmal Masih of Kachi Abadi (Karachi), Shafi Khan of Nowshehra and Haroon Anwar of Naseerabad (Lahore) also looted cash, jewellery and other valuables worth millions from advocate Muhammad Bashir.

He said the suspects were wanted by Nishtar Colony police in five cases and they had also committed robberies in Karachi.