Police posing as online buyers arrest a forensic agency constable, his father, two brothers and a friend as they deliver kite spools from Kasur, the second officer caught in Lahore’s kite trade in six weeks
LAHORE: Lahore police have arrested five people, including a serving police constable, after officers posing as customers ordered banned kite-flying spools from an online supplier and waited for the delivery to arrive from Kasur.
Purani Anarkali police said the suspects drove into Lahore from Kasur to hand over the prohibited charkhis and were detained on arrival. Those arrested were identified as Huzaifa, a constable posted at the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) laboratory, his father, two brothers and a friend, according to a spokesperson for the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations).
A case, FIR No. 832/26, has been registered at Purani Anarkali police station, and further legal proceedings are under way. The suspects have not been charged in court, and none could be reached for comment.
‘The uniform is not a licence’
Lahore’s DIG (Operations) Faisal Kamran said action would be taken against everyone involved in the illegal sale, purchase and supply of kite-flying material without discrimination, and that a police official who broke the law was not beyond its reach.
“Wearing the uniform entails a responsibility to uphold the law, not a privilege to break it,” he said, adding that operations to dismantle the supply chain would continue.
Police did not say whether the constable had been suspended or whether departmental proceedings had begun, nor how many spools were recovered.
A pattern of insiders
The case is the second in six weeks in which a Lahore police constable has been arrested over kite supplies. In September, a lady sub-inspector arrested Constable Talha, who was assigned to security duty at Governor House, with three companions in Harbanspura, recovering 600 kites and 40 spools.
Both cases involved charkhis, the reels used to wind and release kite string, which remain banned outright under Lahore’s Basant 2027 rules even during the festival itself. The rules, announced by the district administration, permit only plain cotton thread and kites within fixed sizes, and prohibit chemical-coated, metallic and sharp manjha string along with fireworks and aerial firing.
Kasur and the online route
The arrests point to two routes police have been trying to close. Kasur, about 55 kilometres south of Lahore, is one of several districts from which kite material is moved into the city, and police have stepped up checks at entry points. Last month a kite and chemical string consignment was seized at the Shera Kot checkpoint, and two inter-district dealers were arrested with 520 kites.
The second route is online ordering. In September, Garden Town police held two men delivering kites to customers who had placed orders online, using stock brought in from other districts. The Purani Anarkali operation turned that method around, with officers placing the order themselves.
Transporting kite material into Lahore through courier companies and transport services is banned, and drivers caught carrying illegal material from other districts face FIRs, licence suspension and confiscation of goods.
Why police are acting now
The Punjab cabinet this week fixed Basant 2027 in Lahore for March 12 to 14, scrapping a 10-day January plan. Under the deputy commissioner’s notification, purchase, transport and storage of approved kites and string will be allowed only from February 1, 2027, and public sales from February 10. Until then, trading kite material in the city is illegal, and police say they have zero tolerance.
Enforcement has been steady through the autumn. In a single drive reported last week, police seized about 4,470 kites and 31 spools and arrested 10 suspected sellers across the city.
The stakes are high for a festival that was banned for 18 years. When Basant returned in February 2026, the Punjab Home Department told the Lahore High Court that at least 17 people died over the three days, mostly in rooftop falls. Officials want the 2027 edition to be safer, which depends on keeping banned string and equipment off the streets before the window opens.
Licensed manufacturers, meanwhile, have complained of slow licensing and rising raw-material costs, and say crackdowns on unlicensed supply must not hit those following the rules.
Police said investigations into the suppliers’ online network and sources in Kasur were continuing. The handling of the constable’s case, including any departmental action, will be watched as a test of the DIG’s promise that the uniform offers no protection.
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