Police arrest 19 fast food staff in Pakistan after they refused to give cops free burgers
- Group of police officers detained 19 staff members at Johnny & Jugnu in Lahore
- The restaurant said it was not the first time something like this had happened
- Managers and kitchen teams were held for seven hours overnight on Saturday
- Restaurant staff said that most of those arrested were young people
- Inam Ghani said nine police officers were suspended yesterday following outcry
A group of police officers in Pakistan flipped out when a takeaway joint refused to hand over free burgers, detaining 19 staff from the branch.
Workers at the trendy chain Johnny & Jugnu in the eastern city of Lahore were rounded up and held for seven hours overnight on Saturday, the restaurant said.
In a statement published on their Facebook page on June 12, the fast food chain said: ‘We write this with a grave heart, much anger and disappointment.
‘This was not the first time something like this has happened with our kitchen teams at our restaurant, but we want to make sure this is the last.’
A group of police officers in Pakistan detained 19 staff from Johnny & Jugnu in Lahore on Saturday night, rounding them up and detaining them for seven hours (stock image)
The incident occurred around 1am, with 19 staff members ‘locked up at the station for the entire night’.
Two days before, the restaurant said that police officers had been in and requested free burgers, which was refused.
In the statement, they added: ‘The police offers threatened our Managers and left, only to return the next day to further harass and pressurize our teams on ground with baseless arguments, asking them to close the restaurant.’
The restaurant said that their manager was taken into custody on June 11, before police ’emptied out’ the entire branch and took their kitchen crew and the rest of the managers.
It added: ‘They forced them to leave everything as it was, leaving behind unattended kitchens, with our fryers still running, customers waiting for their orders. They did not allow anyone to even close down the kitchens or tend to customers.
‘For almost seven hours in the night, they kept our team locked up, harassing them, pushing them around, all for not giving them free burgers, for not entertaining a “request from a very high profile special guest”.’
In a statement posted on Facebook, they said it ‘was not the first time something like this has happened’ and that most of those arrested were young people. Senior provincial police official Inam Ghani said on Twitter that nine police officers involved were suspended (stock image)
Restaurant staff told AFP that most of those arrested were young people, including many university students.
Following outcry among fans, nine police officers involved were suspended yesterday, senior provincial police official Inam Ghani said on Twitter.
Ghani said: ‘No one is allowed to take the law into his own hands.’
Pakistan’s police officers are notorious for corruption and for demanding kickbacks from local businesses.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for a reform of Punjab’s police force, saying ‘cronies’ had been appointed by politicians to control police stations.