Two senior Central Jail officials in Karachi were arrested on Thursday over alleged obstruction of the investigation of a jailbreak involving two high-profile militants in June.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested Central Jail Superintendent Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh and Assistant Superintendent Abdul Rehman Shaikh, CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Amir Farooqi said, over a range of charges from alleged destruction of evidence to threatening witnesses.

DIG Farooqi, who was handling the jailbreak investigation, said the accused jailers were creating hindrances into the investigation of the two militants linked to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi ─ Mumtaz, alias Firaun, and Ahmed, alias Munna, who were involved in the murders of 60 people, including members of the Shia community and law enforcement agencies.

The jail officials taken into custody were allegedly involved in ‘destroying’ evidence relating to the investigation, and threatening witnesses who wished to cooperate with investigators to record their statements.

DIG Farooqi said that this was third case registered against them in relation to the same incident.

The first case was registered against one dozen jail officials, including the two arrested officials, over the jailbreak.

A second case was registered against them after heroin, cellphones and cellphone signal jammers were recovered during a search operation by the Rangers inside the prison after the jailbreak in June.