Prison break suspects were supplied tools from jail workshop: sources

KARACHI: The inmates who escaped from central jail were supplied with tools to cut iron rods from the prison’s auto workshop.

Four prisoners who aided the escaped suspects have also been identified, officials said on Tuesday.

Official sources further revealed that the jail staff was responsible for purportedly not frisking the inmates prior to their entering the judicial complex from where they made good their escape.

Last month, on the night of June 14, two members of banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) managed to escape Karachi’s Central Jail.

The two prisoners, Sheikh Muhammad alias Firon and Ahmed Khan, who were under trail, were present in the jail’s judicial complex for a hearing when they managed to escape. They had been were arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in 2013 over their involvement in dozens of targeted killings.

A case was registered in New Town police station against 12 police personnel arrested, including the jail superintendent and deputy jail superintendent, in the case for their alleged role in the escape.

It was later revealed by CTD officials that the inmates who escaped had changed their appearance in the judge’s bathroom and that there was a possibility they went out using the main gate of the complex.

It was also found out that the suspects were helped by inmates, two of whom are accused of their involvement in the attack on Jinnah International Airport in June 2014 – Nadeem alias Burger and Asif Zaheer. Others include Qasim Rasheed and Naseem alias Firon.

Sources claimed that after breaking out from the jail, Mumtaz and Ahmed escaped on two motorbikes on which their brothers — Mumtaz's brother Mubeen and Nadeem's Iqbal — were waiting.

A CTD investigation into the case also revealed that the two suspects were not supposed to be taken to the complex on the day of the escape as no hearing was scheduled there on the day.