Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah Wednesday approved a police plan to introduce e-tagging for 7,500 repeat offenders in the first phase. During a meeting at the CM House, Shah said earlier he had instructed the police to start extensive patrolling and take a strict action against street criminals to curb street crimes. Murad added that he had directed the police and administration to start removing drug addicts from the streets. The additional inspector general (IG) police mentioned that from January to February, around 143 encounters were done against street criminals of which 15 were killed and 147 were injured. During the meeting, the CM was briefed that 1,446 criminals have been arrested. He was further informed that patrolling has increased in the city and intelligence-based targeted operations are also in progress. For the e-tagging of repeat offenders, the IG police disclosed that 7,500 offenders had been identified who were either free or on bail. Adviser to CM Sindh on Law Murtaza Wahab said that a draft law for e-tagging of repeat offenders had been prepared and was sent for vetting. The chief minister formally approved the proposal of e-tagging of repeat criminals and directed his adviser to expedite its vetting process so that it could be discussed and approved in the cabinet. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Mumtaz said that he had identified a suitable place at Gulshan-e-Maymar where drug addicts could be rehabilitated. Murad directed the chief secretary to provide all the required facilities at the proposed centre so that the police could start directing the drug addicts on the streets to the rehabilitation centre. “The drug addicts are involved in street crime, therefore their removal from the street is most important,” said the CM.