LAHORE: The Punjab home department has decided to widen its scope of investigation into the issuance of fake, forged and illegal arms licences across the province soon after it unearthed a mega scam in the office of Lahore deputy commissioner (DC).

The department had found earlier this month that hundreds of fake, forged and illegal arms licences were issued from the Lahore DC’s office, involving millions of rupees.

A fact-finding committee had found five officials of the DC’s office responsible and the home department had written to the Punjab inspector general of police and the National Accountability Bureau Lahore director general to take action.

As the department finalised its initial report, a source said the probe in Lahore could be a tip of the iceberg, as almost every district was involved in the menace and most cases could be identified from Faisalabad, Multan, Layyah and Sheikhupura districts.

The home department on Friday eventually wrote to all DCs in the province asking them to initiate internal inquiries into the matter and take custody of the record of fake arms licences and complete the inquiries by May 30.

In the letter, the department stated that it had received complaints that the same scam of issuing fake arms licences existed in all districts of Punjab. The DCs could also consult its officials for any support and clarity in the subject, it added.

A source in the home department said the first part of the inquiry conducted in Lahore was finalised, identifying five suspects involved in the scam. However, the investigations that are under way are revealing involvement of more officials in the scam. It said the suspects had defrauded the government by causing a huge loss in various taxes to be paid for issuance of arms licences by fabricating documents to defraud the public.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019