Sindh Minister for Prisons Manzoor Wasan has said Karachi's Central Jail is not safe for prisoners anymore and will be shifted to an alternate location. The minister's remarks came a day after paramilitary Rangers said they had thwarted a banned group's bid to tunnel into the main prison and stage a jailbreak aimed at releasing 100 dangerous militants.
Speaking to media persons, Wasan said the government has a plan to build three new jails and shift the central jail to somewhere along the Super Highway. Wasan said that he would write to Sindh government for demolition of high rise buildings in Ghausia Colony, - an impoverished locality near the Central Jail. He said investigations were underway in the jailbreak bid.
The Karachi jail holds a large number of high-profile militant detainees and has repeatedly come under threat in recent years. On Monday, Rangers Colonel Tahir Mehmood said in a press conference that the paramilitary troops raided a house where members of a militant group were trying to tunnel into the jail. Mehmood said they had arrested suspects from a banned militant organisation but did not name it or say how many were detained.
Mehmood said 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. 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. Meanwhile, authorities continued their investigation into the jailbreak attempt, conducting a search operation in jail quarters. However, no FIR of the incident has so far been registered.
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