Chandigarh: A large haul of mobile phones, narcotics and cash was seized by police during simultaneous raids carried out in jails across Punjab on Sunday.
Narcotics like opium and other tablets, scores of mobile phones along with SIM cards, and syringes used for injecting drugs were seized during the raids, a police spokesperson said.
Simultaneous search operations were conducted in jails in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Muktsar, Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar, Nabha and Sub jail in Barnala.
Mobile, drugs and syringes
The largest haul was in Amritsar, with police seizing 21 mobile phones including four androids, 11 charging leads, three head phones, eight SIM cards and two memory cards.
Besides that, 310 used syringes, silver foil paper, bundles of bidis, nearly 30 tablets used as intoxicants, along with an amount of Rs 14,340 cash were also recovered.
An FIR under Section 52A of Prisons Act and section 21 and 22 of NDPS Act has been registered in Amritsar in this connection.
The syringes were used for injecting intoxicants and the foil papers for consumption of smack.
The connivance of jail officials in smuggling the items into Amritsar prison cannot be ruled out, police said.
Narcotic powder
About 430 grams of narcotic powder and six mobile phones along with a SIM card were seized from inmates of the jail in Gurdaspur, district police chief Jagdip Singh Hundal said.
One gram of opium, two mobile phones and as many SIM cards were seized in Patiala.
A large stash of mobiles were also found from the jail in Tarn Taran and modern jail in Nabha with police seizing 12 and 15 phones respectively. Four SIM cards and Rs 5,500 in cash were also seized in Tarn Taran.
Four mobiles each were recovered from Mansa and Sangrur jails, while one phone was found in Hoshiarpur.
Besides the phones, three bluetooth devices, bidis, four sachets of tobacco and Rs 1,800 in cash was recovered in Sangrur, while a SIM card was seized in Mansa.
Four SIM cards have been recovered from Barnala sub jail, while one SIM card, a blade, eight electric bulbs, and an electric wire was found in Ropar jail.
An acute shortage of jail staff, doctors and pharmacists, besides poor infrastructure of drug de-addiction centres came in to notice during the raids, the spokesperson said.
There is a need for installation of CCTV cameras in large numbers to cover crucial points of jails, along with regular checking with sniffer dogs to keep prisons free from drugs, he said.
