LAHORE, March 10: Police raids to arrest the Badami Bagh arsonists continued on Sunday with arrest of over 163 suspects. Raids were on till our going into the press at 12 night.
The arrests of suspected arsonists, majority of them were said to be Pathans and Afghans, were initiated late on Saturday after the provincial chief executive ordered aggressive and indiscriminate action against the suspects who burned 170 houses in Joseph Colony.
A case of arson attack was registered under Sections 324, 332, 427, 436, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7-Anti-Terrorism Act on behalf of the state against 83 nominated and thousands of unidentified people.
A senior police investigator told Dawn that 15 police teams were conducting raids across the city to hunt down suspects.
He said around 40 arrested suspects were either nominated or had been identified with the help of video footage, adding raids would continue to arrest others.
The investigator said majority of arrested people were local traders or their workers.
(Daily Dawn)
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