MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) police have arrested three more escaped prisoners over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of escapees who have been rearrested to six, officials said on Sunday.

DIG Shehryar Sikander told Dawn Usama Murtaza and Asif Dil Mohammad were apprehended at Rehara Cross on Goin Nullah Road, on the night between Saturday and Sunday when they were attempting to flee to Rawalpindi in a van.

According to jail records, 34-year-old Asif Dil Mohammad, a resident of Kehna Parat village, was serving a 25-year sentence for murder. He was among three escapees with a Rs5 million bounty each.

Usama Murtaza, 26, from Rehara village, was an under-trial prisoner in a murder case and one of eight escapees with a bounty of Rs3m each.

Earlier on Saturday morning, another police team led by Sub-Inspector Muhammad Idrees, SHO Khaigala, had arrested 17-year-old Mukarram Faisal from his village, Hussain Kot, 10km from Rawalakot.

Faisal was serving a 10-year sentence for unnatural offence under Sections 377, 341, and 292 of the penal code and was also one of the eight prisoners, with a Rs3m bounty.

DIG Sikander said that the first three escapees had already been remanded to police custody by a judicial magistrate while the remand for the latest three would be obtained on Monday.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2024