LAHORE: The Punjab police claimed to have arrested nearly 200,000 criminals wanted in connection with various heinous crimes across the province during 10 months.

A spokesperson for the Punjab police said here on Sunday a total of 119,961 proclaimed offenders have been arrested across the province since Jan 1 so far, including 21,701 from category A and 98,620 from category B.

During the crackdown, he said, 59,569 court absconders were also arrested, including 5,800 from category A and 54,169 from category B.

Additionally, the Punjab police also managed to arrest 31,574 tar-get offenders (habitual criminals), including 13,000 from category A and 18,474 from category B.

He said 91 criminals wanted for henious crimes were arrested from abroad and brought back to Pakistan.

In the provincial capital Lahore, 61,000 dangerous criminals were apprehended, including 23,950 proclaimed offenders, 24,770 judicial fugitives and 12,278 target offenders (habitual criminals).

IG Dr. Usman Anwar appreciated the police teams on their successful operations and directed them to accelerate the crackdown. He asked the RPOs and DPOs to personally supervise the crackdown and targeted operations against dangerous criminals.