90 high-profile inmates transferred from Karachi Central Jail

KARACHI: Jail authorities on Tuesday transferred 90 high-profile inmates from Karachi’s Central Jail to other prisons in a bid to break their network in the wake of two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants’ escape from the prison.

The jail official said, 80 prisoners, have been shifted to Sukkur, eight to Larkana and two to Rawalpindi.

A recent jailbreak involving two LeJ terrorists triggered concern about the security of the prison and set alarm bells ringing for the law enforcement agencies to enhance the security at the jail housing around 6000 prisoners including some dangerous terrorists.

It was decided at a recent meeting of Sindh apex committee to transfer some high-profile prisoners to other jails to dismantle their network.

Earlier this month, the counter-terrorism department (CTD) had claimed that two militants of the banned LEJ who had escaped from the prison had crossed over to Afghanistan through the Chaman border.

Shaikh Muhammad Mumtaz alias Firaun and Muhammad Ahmed Khan alias Munna had broken out of the prison on June 15.

According to an investigation into the matter, both the prisoners had escaped through breaking the grill guarding their cell and disguising their appearance.

Following the incident, a FIR was registered against 12 jail officials on a complaint of the then DIG Prisons over charges of negligence. Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was incorporated in the FIR as their escape caused fear among the general public and witnesses of the cases pending against them.