Over two hundred inmates managed to escape from District Prison Malir in Karachi late on Monday night, the Sindh police chief confirmed, adding that 78 were recaptured while one was shot dead.
Police officials earlier said the prisoners broke through the jail’s outer wall, which had been weakened due to the multiple low-intensity tremors felt in the area since Sunday. Police cordoned off the whole area and no one was allowed to enter or leave without ascertaining their identity.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon on Tuesday told Dawn.com that over 200 prisoners managed to escape from Malir prison late Monday night when they were brought out from their barracks for counting due to earthquake, out of them 78 were recaptured while teams are being constituted to re-arrest the remaining 138.
Memon, who visited the jail early Tuesday morning, said that as per his assessment and briefings of jail and police officials, after the earthquake in the area, the jail administration brought an estimated 2,000 prisoners languishing in the jail from their barracks for counting at around 12:45am.
“Most of the prisoners were drug addicts,” he noted. “The addicts’ state of mind is such that they tend to develop mob psychology. Thus, when such an atmosphere was created inside the prison, the prisoners ran by opening the door of the jail,” he elaborated.
The police chief said FC personnel deployed at the prison resorted to massive aerial firing to push them back. He said the FC fired an estimated 700 shots. He said there were estimated 2,000 prisoners, and out of them, a total of 213 managed to escape.
The law enforcers launched an operation, recapturing 78 prisoners. “During the action, one prisoner was shot dead while two others were injured,” confirmed the IG Sindh. He said the situation was now under control.
The Sindh police head said they are setting up teams to re-arrest the remaining 138 escaped prisoners. “One of the escaped prisoners was brought back to the jail by his mother,” he added. The police and jail administration had information about all escaped prisoners.
To a question, the provincial police head opined ostensibly there would be “some lapses” and the prisoners finding an opportunity managed to escape.
However, he said the Sindh government has decided to set up an inquiry committee to ascertain the circumstances, which led to the incident and fix responsibility for it.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn.com that one unidentified prisoner aged around 45 years old was brought dead at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre with a firearm injury. He was pronounced dead on arrival. “Doctors are waiting for police papers to conduct his post-mortem,” she added
The police surgeon said four other prisoners with gunshot injuries were also brought to the hospital for treatment. They were identified as Mohammed Tahir, 28, who sustained bullet injury on his left arm with no exit wound; Abdul Hadi, 25, who suffered firearm wounds on his hip joint and thigh, while the third prisoner Akhter Naeem, 35, received a gunshot wound on his glutes.
The police surgeon said two policemen namely Sikander, 22, and Mohammed Shamraiz, 40, were also injured during assault by the prisoners and they were brought to the hospital for treatment of abrasions on their foot, back and neck pain.
Sindh Prisons Minister Ali Hasan Zardari had earlier taken notice of the jailbreak and sought a report from the IG and DIG prisons.
IG Sindh telephoned and discussed the incident with IG Prisons Sindh Qazi Nazir, said a statement issued by the police chief’s spokesperson Syed Saad Ali.
The SSP Malir gave a detailed briefing about the measures being taken to arrest the escaped prisoners. He said police cordoned off the entire area after the jailbreak.
Memon said police will provide all possible support to recapture the escaped prisoners. “Due to the timely response of police and other law enforcement agencies, many prisoners were immediately caught,” he said.
“Prisoners of drugs and minor offences are kept in Malir jail,” he said, adding that the Prisons Department and Malir Jail administration kept a complete record of every prisoner.
He continued that police teams have been formed to arrest the escaped prisoners.
