GUJRANWALA: The Anti Corruption Establishment Gujranwala ranked first in the province for its best performance in the last six months. The statistics revealed by the department signifies full-scale crackdown against corruption and criminals under the supervision of regional director Fareed Ahmed. In his talk to media, Fareed Ahmed revealed that the Punjab Director General Brig(R) Muzaffar Ali Ranjha ordered ‘merciless’ crackdown against corrupt elements. Consequently, 377 suspects were arrested from Oct 2017 till April 2018, the highest figure in Punjab. He said that 311 alleged criminals were arrested after judicial approval while 51 were caught red handed. Moreover, 11 proclaimed offenders and four absconders were also detained. “When I took charge of Gujranwala, 2058 inquires were pending, but since then 1308 have been resolved and recovered more than Rs 20 million from the accused,” he asserted adding that remarkable performance by the department has been awarded with the best position in the province. He declared that honesty and integrity has been promoted in the department and proclaimed that besides action against corrupt officials in other departments, ‘black sheep’ were dealt with an iron hands in the anti corruption department. Resultantly, two officers including deputy director Mian Abdul Jabbar and assistant director Asif Noor were expelled from the department over suspicious activities. The technical branch staffs have been altered to ensure independent and clean proceedings. “Further improvement is underway and a new anti corruption complex has been inaugurated,” he said. He appreciated Muzaffar Ali Ranjha for his supervision and guidance. Published in Daily Times, May 7th 2018.