Plot to free ‘dangerous’ terrorists from Central Jail Karachi foiled

Colonel Tahir, while briefing the media about the terrorists’ plot, said a tunnel was being dug at a home in residential locality Ghousia Colony next to Central Jail to make way towards jail barracks where ‘dangerous terrorists’ are incarcerated.

“The tunnel was excavated upto 10 feet through a water tank of the home. The tunnel was just 10 meters away to complete its 55 metre distance to the barracks of central jail,” he informed.

The officer disclosed that some elements from banned terrorists’ outfit were behind the plot.

He said a huge cache of weapons and some technical gadgets were also recovered from the site. He said sophisticated equipments were used to dig up the tunnel. The officer hinted that there might be some inside help leading to the criminal activity.

Col. Tahir said that Rangers promptly reacted to the intelligence report and foiled the plot of terrorists. National security institutions had informed Rangers about the jail break plot through the tunnel, he added.

He politely declined to share complete details with the media, saying investigation was underway and disclosure of any sensitive detail could hamper the probe.

Colonel Tahir appealed public to contact the law enforcers about any information of criminals, if they have any.

It may be noted here that ARY News had already broke this news two days ago.

AFP adds: The government paramilitary Rangers raided a house where members of a militant group were trying to tunnel into the nearby Karachi Central Jail, Rangers Colonel Tahir Mehmood told a press conference.

Breakouts from Pakistan’s ageing, overcrowded prisons are not uncommon. A raid by heavily armed militants on a jail in the northwest last August freed nearly 250 prisoners, while almost 400 fled in a similar incident in another northwestern prison in 2012.

Mehmood said they had arrested suspects from a banned militant organisation but did not name it or say how many were detained.

The Karachi jail holds a large number of high-profile Islamist and sectarian militant detainees and has repeatedly come under threat in recent years.

Mehmood said that the 45-metre (150-feet) 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 made their raid.

“Nearly 100 dangerous terrorists were present in the cell near the well where the suspects wanted to enter through the tunnel,” he said.

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.