Intoxicant tablets recovered from jail, 12 inmates booked

KAPURTHALA: Raising questions over the functioning of the prison administration, 33gm intoxicant powder was recovered from a barrack at the Kapurthala Modern Jail on Tuesday.

This is for the first time that such quantity of drug is recovered from a single barrack in this jail. In the past, the authorities have seized small quantities of intoxicant powder from the inmates. The jail officials are clueless as to how this banned drug came into the jail premise.

A team, led by assistant superintendent Satpal Singh, had recovered 33gm drugs from room number 12 in barrack 8. The contraband was concealed by the inmates behind the tiles in bathroom’s wall. “The raid was conducted on the basis of a tip-off that inmates are hiding drug in their barrack. We recovered the drug powder after a throughout research. A case has been registered by the Kotwali police against all inmates lodged in the room,” said jail superintendent SP Khanna.

A case has been registered under Sections 22/61/85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The jail superintendent claimed that the recoveries have increased due to increased vigil by the jail staff. “We now have a security team of 300 persons to guard the jail, and doing 24-hour surveillance, including surprise raids in barracks is easier,” he added.