10,000 power thieves held across country,Rs14.33bn recovered in nationwide raids.

ISLAMABAD -- Around 10,000 peo ple were arrested and 23,152 FIRsregistered in the crackdown againstelectricity thieves across the countryin the wake of the alarming surge inpower pilferage.Besides, a sum of Rs14.33 billionhas been recovered from electricitythieves.

Power Division Secretary RashidLangrial said despite having a shareof 75% in the theft quantum in thethree provinces, only 725 peoplewere rounded up in Sindh andKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

He added that the Power Divisionwas taking action against electricitythieves on a daily basis.According to the Power Divisionsecretary, the Lahore Electric SupplyCompany (LESCO) had recoveredaround Rs3.85 billion from powerpilferers.

He continued that 2,961 people hadbeen arrested for stealing electricityand 9,564 FIRs registered in connec tion with power theft in the jurisdic tion of LESCO.Langrial maintained that Rs2.69billion and Rs2.42 billion had beenrecovered from power thieves by theHyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO),respectively.

The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) imposedfines worth over Rs89.5 million on power pilferers.A total of 287 FIRs were registered for power theft and 233 elec tricity thieves arrested in the jurisdiction of the IESCO.During the month of September, 77,998 meters were checked inIESCO operation circles.A total of 1,330 consumers were issued detection bills over slowsupply of direct electricity and tampered meters.A spokesperson for the IESCO pledged to make the campaignlaunched by the government against power theft 100% successful.During the operation, IESCO detection teams have the full sup port of the district administration and police, the spokespersonadded.

At the start of September...