Security Breach in Jammu Jail: Cell Phone Found in Use of Lashkar-e-Taiba Militant

Srinagar: Terming it a “serious security lapse”, the authorities have ordered a probe into the recovery of a smartphone which in the use of an undertrial member of proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) lodged in Jammu’s Kotbalwal central prison.   

The China-made POCO phone is now in the hands of the Jammu and Kashmir police and a team of experts is trying to break it, the sources said.

The sources identified the LeT militant who was using the phone inside the jail premises as Habib Sheru, a resident of Haria Chak (village) of neighbouring Kathua district. The phone was recovered from him by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which took over the security of the high-security jail housing over 900 prisoners including some foreign nationals recently. The smartphone was subsequently handed over to J&K police by it, the sources said.

“The recovery of the smartphone from an inmate- a terrorist- is a serious matter. We’re looking into this security breach as it could have proved detrimental to the interests of the state. We’ve in the past found that such devices are used by the terrorists to stay in touch with their handlers across the border,” said an official.

Habib was charge-sheeted by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January last year in a case pertaining to interception and recovery of a Hexacopter (drone) and a consignment of UBGL ammunition and sticky or magnetic bombs dropped by it near Dhalli, an area falling close to the International Border (IB) with Pakistan in Kathua, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), Nitin Agrawal, on Wednesday visited the Jammu frontier to review the security situation and operational preparedness of the troops guarding the 198-km IB with Pakistan. “He was briefed by D. K. Boora, Inspector General, BSF (Jammu frontier) and other officials about the security situation in the area of its responsibility,” a spokesman of the BSF said.

Later, he called on J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu to brief him about the security situation along the border.