Karachi jailbreak: Hardcore militants to be shifted to Malir jail

KARACHI: Around 20 well-secured barracks are to be established this year at Malir jail to house the hardcore militants presently imprisoned at Karachi Central Jail, reports said.

The arrangement being made in order to avoid any future jailbreak after escape of two hardcore terrorists from the central jail recently. The central jail has currently housing around 6,000 prisoners, twice of its capacity.

For years, the concerned authorities and intelligence agencies have been issuing warnings about jailbreak threats and suspicious activities by the proscribed militant organizations within the jail.

One such attempt was foiled when the Rangers discovered a tunnel being dug towards the prison back in 2015. It was said that the tunnel was being dug at a small house located north east of the Jail in Ghausia Colony, which was solely purchased to provide a passage to hardcore terrorists incarcerated at the central jail through the tunnel.

There are reportedly 250 to 300 hardcore terrorists imprisoned at the central jail affiliated with various militant outfits.

On Thursday, senior superintendent police of counter terrorism department (CTD), Omar Shahid said that his department had earlier expressed reservations over the central jail’s security from where two hardened terrorists managed to flee from the captivity.

Addressing a press conference, he asserted that he had informed the concerned authorities in writing of keeping such high-profile terrorists at the city’s central jail was dangerous.

It is worth mentioning here that under-trial prisoners, Shaikh Muhammad Mumtaz alias Firoon and Muhammad Ahmed Khan alias Muna had escaped from the judicial complex of Central Prison Karachi last week.

Startling revelations about the incident indicate that the prisoners had escaped on Tuesday (last week) by breaking prison grill and changed their appearance in the judge’s bathroom. However, the jail staff came to know about their escape on Wednesday (a day later) when they were supposed to be presented before the court inside the jail, police sources said.

The duo was arrested by the CTD in 2013 for their involvement in dozens of targeted killings.