HYDERABAD: Personnel of the Sindh police, Hyderabad Central Prison, Frontier Constabulary and Rangers carried out a four-hour-long joint search operation in the jail on Saturday. The operation was supervised by officers of the respective forces.

Sindh Inspector General of Prisons Nusrat Mangan, who also oversaw the operation, said that barring some items like shaving razor, nothing objectionable was found during the search. He said razor was now allowed to be kept by inmates under the jail manual. ASP Sarfaraz Virk said that around 450 personnel took part in the operation. He said they conveyed their concerns to the relevant authorities over recovery of shaving kits, nail cutters and ropes from barracks. “No primary weapon or device was found,” he said.

A police source said that searches were planned following escape of two dangerous criminals from the Karachi Central Prison recently. He said such searches in the Hyderabad jail would again be conducted as it appeared that everything went smoothly and no sign of panic was seen among the inmates. “It perhaps indicates that they too had prior information about likely searches,” added the source.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2017