10 mobiles seized from Jammu jail housing militants

The Kot Bhalwal Central Jail houses terrorists and overground workers with links across the border

JAMMU : The Jammu and Kashmir police seized 10 mobile phones and seven SIM cards from inmates serving time at the high-security Kot Bhalwal Central Jail on the outskirts of Jammu during a surprise raid on Thursday morning.

Acting on a tipoff, a team of the Jammu and Kashmir police and CID wing carried out the raids in the prison, which houses terrorists and overground workers with links across the border, said officials

“A probe has been ordered to know how these mobiles reached inmates inside the high- security prison and who all were using them,” said a senior police officer.

The contraband seized included 10 mobile phones, of which five were Android, seven SIM cards, 12 earphones, four pen drives, five mobile chargers, one mobile battery, two bluetooth headphones, three data cables, seven knives, two diaries, and eight pieces of paper with mobile numbers on them.

“The possibility of inmates using smart phones to communicate with anti-national forces across the border through social media applications cannot be ruled out,” said official sources.

Repeated calls and messages to DG prisons B Srinivas went unanswered.

Notably, Jaish-e-mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, and other terrorists Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh were released from Bhalwal Central Jail in exchange for the safety of passengers and crew of the hijacked aeroplane IC-814 on December 31, 1999.

THE CONTRABAND INCLUDED 10 MOBILES, SEVEN SIM CARDS, 12 EARPHONES, FOUR PEN DRIVES, FIVE CHARGERS, A BATTERY, TWO HEADPHONES, THREE DATA CABLES, SEVEN KNIVES, TWO DIARIES, 8 SCRAPS WITH PHONE NUMBERS ON THEM