KARACHI: In a sweeping operation conducted inside the Karachi central jail in the wake of the startling escape by two militants recently, the Rangers on Monday seized illegal cell phones, television sets, internet and anti-jamming devices, drugs and millions of rupees from the prison.

Authorities claimed that seized material included hundreds of mobile phones, dozens of TV sets and over Rs3.5 million cash.

“A mobile phone network was active in the prison which was being run with the help of modern devices to avoid the impact of jammers installed there,” Bhitai Rangers sector commander Shahid Javed said in a briefing to journalists.

The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, led the snoop — the first of its kind in the past 25 years — that led to the recovery of the items not allowed under the jail manual.

Operation launched following the escape of two LJ men from prison

Officials said that personnel of the Pakistan Army, intelligence agencies and police also took part in the operation, which was launched following the last week’s escape of two militants of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) from the prison.

Commander Javed said the mobile network was apparently being used by the inmates for passing instructions to their accomplices in the city for carrying out criminal activities.

He said that around 6,000 prisoners — belonging to all political, religious and banned outfits — were physically searched in barracks.

The officials said that cells of all convicted inmates associated with the banned militant outfits and political parties were searched.

During the search of library and mosques some objectionable literature was found.

The Rangers official said that books were also being used to hide mobile phones and drugs.

There were 10 additional kitchens apart from official kitchens that catered to the needs of a ‘particular class of prisoners’ while 150 gas cylinders were also seized.

Commander Javed expres­sed concern over the presence of gas cylinders inside the prison and apprehended that such cylinders could be used for jailbreak.

He recalled that the last such operation was carried out in 1990.

During the operation, 102 mobile phones, Rs3.552m in cash, 18 deep freezers, 449 TVs, 163 LCDs, 995 bracket fans, five packets of heroin, 22 heaters, three DVD players, 30 blankets, 10 scissors, 31 water dispensers, 400 packets of different kinds of cigarettes, 45 knives, 46 memory cards and 50 different kinds of remote control devices and other items were seized.

The Rangers vowed that contraband goods would not be allowed inside the prison in any situation.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2017