*Minister says Karachi Central Jail not safe for inmates anymore and will be shifted to another place
Sindh Minister for Prisons Manzoor Wasan said Tuesday that Karachi Central Jail is not safe for prisoners anymore and they would be shifted to an alternate location.
The minister’s remarks came a day after Rangers said that they had thwarted a banned group’s bid to dig a tunnel into the main prison and stage a jail break aimed at releasing 100 dangerous militants.
Wasan said he would write to the Sindh Government for demolition of high-rise buildings in Ghausia Colony – an impoverished locality near Central Jail. He said investigations were underway in the jailbreak bid.
Speaking to reporters, Wasan said that the government plans to build three new jails and shift the Central Jail somewhere along the Super Highway.
Karachi Central Jail holds many high-profile militant detainees and has repeatedly come under threat many times in recent years.
On Monday, Rangers Colonel Tahir Mehmood said at a press conference that the paramilitary troops raided a house from where members of a militant group were trying to tunnel into the jail.
He said that they had arrested suspects from a banned militant organisation, but did not name it nor say how many were detained.
Mehmood said that the 45-metre tunnel had been dug from an underground water tank at the house towards a dry well inside the jail boundary, and was just 10 metres short of its target when the Rangers conducted the raid.
Authorities had fortified the jail by erecting double boundary walls in view of the threats and jammers were also installed around the jail to prevent any bomb attack.
Meanwhile, authorities continued their investigation into the jailbreak attempt, conducting a search operation in jail quarters. However, no FIR of the incident has so far been registered.
Officials said that some 13 suspects rounded up by law enforcement agencies in connection with the tunnel plot were being interrogated.
