KARACHI, Feb 8: A search operation carried out by prison police inside the Karachi Central Jail on Tuesday has yielded at least 20 mobile phones and recovered drugs from prisoners. The prisoners include some with alleged links to banned militant outfits.

According to police, the mobile phones were being used by the prisoners to stay in touch with their contacts.

IG Prisons Ghulam Qadir Thebo told DawnNews that prisoners were frequently using mobiles which prompted the search operation.

The possession of mobile phones by prisoners is widespread in prisons across Sindh.

The IG Prisons said: “There is a high probability of prisoners with mobile phones in Larkana and Hyderabad, but conducting search operations there is difficult due to a shortage of staff”.

Mr Thebo added that no search operation had been carried out in these prisons over the past decade.

Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, in a letter to the Provincial Police Officer, has sought police assistance to carry out similar searches in Larkana and Hyderabad jails.

At present, there are 3,100 prison police personnel deployed in various jails of Sindh.

DawnNews will air a special report at 7pm on Wednesday on conditions in the Karachi Central Jail and the search operation carried out there.