It may send alarm bells ringing, but the inmates of Punjab jails remain connected with the outer world through mobiles, including the smartphones. Nothing less than 21 mobile phones, including four smartphones, eight sim cards, two memory cards, cash, were recovered, among many other things, during the Punjab Police’s special Statewide search operation across all jails.
The recovery, including tablets used as drugs, threw enough light on the state of affairs inside the Punjab jails indicating how security norms have been flouted by the jail authorities.
The major search operation was jointly conducted with the State Prison Department and Civil Administration early in the morning as a part of its ongoing drive to ensure that the jails in Punjab are free of objectionable or prohibited material and do not become house for drugs and organised crime.
The largest haul was in Amritsar, with police seizing 21 mobile phones including four androids, 11 charging leads, three head phones, eight SIM cards and two memory cards.
The raid comes a day after State Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora had categorically said that special emphasis would be laid on strengthening the jails not only by providing required number of police officers but also enhancing electronic surveillance in the form of installing more jammers and CCTV to cover every nook and corner of jails.
The search operation was conducted in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Sri Muktsar Sahib and maximum security jail at Nabha, Modern Jail Nabha, Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar jails and Sub-jail Barnala simultaneously.
The operation resulted in recovery of number of mobile phones, sim cards besides tablets being used as drugs by the inmates, said Punjab Police spokesperson.
Police sources maintained that the connivance of jail officials in smuggling the items into the prisons cannot be ruled out. Spokesperson revealed that Amritsar Commissioner of Police Amar Singh Chahal led team which comprises one DCP, five ADCP, five ACPs,
17 SHOs, 60 NGOs, 500 EPOs and 50 lady constables along with Jail Superintendent and other officials.