KARACHI, April 6: The authorities of the Central Prison, Karachi, shifted on Saturday as many as 111 foreigners convicts to Hyderabad jails.

Provincial chief of prisons, Brig Nisar Mahar, told Dawn that the convicts, belonging to different countries, were shifted from Karachi only due to overcrowding in the Central Prison.

To a question, he said the shifting of the foreign prisoners, mainly Africans, had nothing to do with the security of Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, the alleged mastermind behind Daniel Pearl’s Jan 23 kidnapping, lodged in the central prison.

Most of the shifted prisoners were convicted for their involvement in drug smuggling.

The jail authorities said the shifted prisoners included five foreigners who had requested their shifting to Hyderabad as they were facing trial in drug-related cased in different courts in Hyderabad.

They said 35 foreigners were shifted to Nara Jail and 71 to the Central Jail, Hyderabad.

The authorities said the foreign prisoners were shifted from Karachi just to release the overcrowding pressure as they had been accommodated in one barrack with the capacity for 50 inmates.