KARACHI: Investigations into the escape of two high-profile militants from Karachi Central Prison two months ago found that they stayed for 10 days in a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before travelling to Balochistan, it emerged on Friday.

The militants moved from Karachi to a village in Haripur, where they stayed for more than a week, while apparently all their activities remained unchecked despite tight security and high surveillance.

The two Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militants, Sheikh Mumtaz alias Firaun and Mohammad Ahmed Khan alias Munna, escaped from the jail after cutting an iron grill of the lock-up on June 13. They had been arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of police for their alleged involvement in the killing of over 60 people, mainly members of the Shia community and law enforcers.

Three facilitators arrested; raids being conducted in Balochistan

Following their escape, the New Town police registered a case against 12 jail officials on a complaint of the then DIG Prisons over charges of negligence. The case was then transferred to the CTD that invoked Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, as their escape caused “fear among the general public and witnesses of pending cases”. 

The CTD later arrested three more prison employees on charges of negligence.

The CTD officials investigating the escape said one of the escaped prisoners, Ahmed alias Munna, used to meet his maternal uncle, Azharuddin, inside lock-up in the central prison. They held “long sittings” in the absence of ATC judge, they said. 

Azharuddin had been released on bail in murder and terror cases, they added.

The mobile phone data record showed that both remained in touch the whole night on June 13 while next day Azharuddin’s mobile phone was switched off. Five weeks later his location was traced in Haripur. Subsequent raids resulted in the arrest of three facilitators. It emerged during interrogation with them that the two LJ militants had stayed at the home of one of the facilitators for 10 days.

Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi, who heads the CTD in Sindh, told Dawn that the UTPs might have fled to Balochistan from KP. With the support of intelligence agencies, a CTD team conducted raids in Balochistan to arrest the militants, he added.

It also emerged during the investigation that two suspects, Azharuddin and Zubair Ayub who were on bail in a case (FIR 272/2014 registered under Sections 302, 324 and 34 of the PPC and 7 of the ATA at the Korangi police station) along with their three co-accused Nadeem Iqbal, Ubaid Rehman and Zeeshan languishing in jail, were brought for hearing before the ATC-VII.

Both the LJ militants had been planning the jailbreak with Azharuddin and Zubair Ayub.

The CTD also highlighted some factors contributing to the jailbreak including the jail officials’ fear of jihadi elements and MQM detainees owing to which the “prisoners were virtually running the jail”.

Besides, there were factors of inefficiency, corruption, free availability of contraband, lack of accountability, favouritism and non-implementation of standard operating procedures, the investigation showed.

To improve the situation, some measures suggested by the CTD included early decisions on terror cases, transfer of cases of high-profile militants to military courts, transfer of terrorists/militants to different jails of Sindh, construction of high-security prisons, according to contents of the inquiry.

Meanwhile, AIG Abbasi told Dawn that the CTD has written a letter to home secretary Sindh to get the bail orders of three nominated accused jail officials cancelled as “prima facie a criminal conspiracy” was suspected behind the escape of hardcore militants.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017