- Massive search operation launched in all 32 Punjab prisons to thwart possible jailbreaks
- Prisoners to be interrogated for ‘escape plans’
The discovery of a tunnel near the Karachi Central Jail has put the Punjab Prisons Department on its toes and a major search operation has been launched in all 32 jails of the province to ascertain if any militant or criminal outfit is planning a jail break attempt in Punjab.
Sources told Pakistan Today that a large number of hardened criminals and members of banned terror outfits were being held in prisons across the province and consequences of a sudden underground attack in prisons would be very dangerous.
“Imagine a group of armed terrorists suddenly emerging inside jail premises in the darkness of the night. Such an attack would take the prison guards by surprise and result in mayhem and bloodshed of many officials and inmates,” a prison official told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity.
He said that following the Sindh Rangers’ disclosure of the tunnel near Karachi Central Prison, the Punjab Home Department had directed the prisons authority and security agencies to immediately conduct a comprehensive search operation in all 32 jails across Punjab.
He said that security officials had been ordered to interrogate all inmates affiliated with banned organisations besides conducting a thorough search of the prisoners’ belongings and their barracks, kitchen etc.
A Home Department official confided to Pakistan Today that the police’s Special Branch and Intelligence Bureau had also been tasked with scouting all neighbourhoods located near prisons and to enhance surveillance in such areas to monitor suspicious activities and suspects.
“The intelligence personnel have been told to strengthen their networks in such areas so that even the slightest suspicious activity does not go unreported,” he said.
Punjab Prisons Inspector General Mian Farooq Nazir was confident that no jailbreak incident could take place in any of his prisons.
“It’s practically impossible for any group to dig a tunnel near any prison under my jurisdiction but we have still beefed up security at all establishments and also ordered a thorough search operation to prevent any such attack from taking place,” he told Pakistan Today.
