Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to use drones to monitor the movement of criminals and their hideouts, according to an official statement.

CM Murad on Thursday chaired a meeting on law and order and decided to acquire 4,000 devices for E-tagging repeat street and drug criminals.

The CM decided to implement geo-tagging and GPS utilisation in order to prevent street and drug crimes in the hotspot areas of the city.

He instructed the provincial police chief to provide 14 drones, which were procured last month, to the police in Sukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore, and Shikarpur districts to monitor the activities of criminals and their hideouts.

“I know the police with the coordinated support of Rangers and other law enforcement agencies have made progress in controlling law & order, including street crime in the city and kidnapping for ransom in the Kutcha area but we should take benefit of the latest technology in curbing the crime,” the CM said and added he has already provided enough funds to the police for equipment.

The CM said that we should not be complacent in terms of the Karachi situation and its current crime rate index if we did not control drugs. He expressed fears that our future generations and society at large would fully become prone to the use of drugs consequently leading to crimes and lawlessness.

The CM was told that 4,000 devices would be procured for E-tagging of repeat criminals which includes street and narcotics dealers.

At this, the CM said that he has given a budget to the police for the installation of trackers in police vehicles that must be ensured. The CM was informed that 3,302 police vehicles had been equipped with a tracker system.

The CM was told that under the first Phase of Karachi Safe City, the work of installation of 1,300 cameras has been started. The CM said that he has already released Rs5.6 billion for the project.

CM Murad directed the police to adopt the technology of laser-guided fencing to log them on the borders. He directed the IG police to coordinate with the NRTC, and explore its ways and means and report him.

The CM was told that GPS or related technology would be used to forestall the possibility of any drug-related criminal activity through efficient monitoring.