Punjab: 23 mobile phones seized from jail

Punjab: According to sources, 23 mobile phones including tobacco bags, cigarette packets, chargers and data cables have been seized from the Central Jail here. The recovery comes three days after 10 mobile phones were seized from the jail following which 10 undertrial prisoners were booked. On August 5, six undertrial prisoners were booked after 10 mobile phones were seized. In all, over 350 mobile phones have been seized from the jail this year. There have been several incidents in the past where jail officials or other contractual employees have been found to be allegedly involved in providing phones to prisoners.

Recently, six mobile phones were seized from security guard Jaswant Singh and he was arrested. On June 27, police commando Sukha Singh was arrested while on duty near the main gate and heroin was seized from him. Earlier, the police’s counter-intelligence wing had arrested jail warden Nayab Singh for allegedly supplying drugs to jail inmates, including notorious gangsters. Jail authorities attributed the recovery of a large number of mobile phones to strict surveillance and stringent security measures in the jail. Sources said that due to a large number of residential and commercial buildings coming up around the jail, it has become easier for inmates to smuggle mobile phones inside the jail by throwing them inside the jail from outside.