Drug peddlers, gangsters run their mobile network from jail premises

PK Jaiswar

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 20

Gangsters and drug dealers, languishing in various jails of Punjab, are running their network from inside the jail premises through mobile phones. It has become a major headache for the Police Department as well as the security agencies.

The fact has time and again come to light when the counter-intelligence (CI) has sought the production warrant of a drug smuggler languishing in the Amritsar Central Jail. The CI has recently arrested a drug peddler, Harjinder Singh, alias Tinku, with 1 kg of heroin and Rs 1 lakh drug money. During his interrogation, he told the police that he had brought the consignment on the instructions of a prisoner, identified as Bikramjit Singh, alias Vicky. He was lodged in the jail on the charge of murder.

The Amritsar Central Jail authorities, during special search operations at various intervals, had seized as many as 48 mobile phones, hidden in various parts of the jail premises by the inmates.

Jail officials said the matter was already in the knowledge of higher-ups who had reportedly written to the government to instal mobile-signal jammer in the jails.

A police official, who was previously deputed at the jail, while wishing not to be named, said the only way to tackle the problem was to instal mobile jammers. He said despite the stringent measures adopted by the jail authorities, the notorious elements inside the jail manage to sneak in mobile phones. Involvement of jail staff could not be ruled out as without their complicity, it was not easy to sneak in the mobile phones. Relatives of the jail inmates also sometimes helped them.

Punjab Police DGP Suresh Arora also confirmed the existence of this problem talking to mediapersons while disposing of drugs at a paper mill here today. He said the Police Department has written to the Punjab Government in this regard.