Gujarat police conduct simultaneous searches at 17 jails, recover phones, ‘lethal’ objects

AHMEDABAD, Mar 25:
In a mega overnight operation, the Gujarat police conducted simultaneous searches at 17 jails across the state, during which several mobile phones, “lethal” objects and narcotic substances were recovered, officials said on Saturday.
The operation, in which 1,700 police personnel were involved with several of them wearing body-worn cameras to videograph the happenings, began on Friday night.
The intention behind the move was to check if any illegal activities were taking place there and also to ensure that the inmates are getting facilities they are entitled to as per the law, they said.
The decision to carry out the searches was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi at the Director General of Police (DGP) office in Gandhinagar Police Bhavan, they said.
The places where the operation was conducted included the central jails in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot. Minister Sanghavi and senior police officers monitored the operation live from the command and control centre in state capital Gandhinagar, while Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel inspected the operation from “CM Dashboard” as police personnel wearing body-worn cameras sent the live feed to ‘Trinetra’, state’s command and control centre, the Government said in a statement.
“As many as 16 mobile phones, 10 electronic items, 39 lethal objects, three narcotic substances and 519 tobacco products were recovered during the mega search operation in the prisons across the state,” the State Government said in a statement.
Talking to reporters on Friday night, state Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay had said the raids were being carried out across 17 jails involving 1,700 police personnel to find out if any illegal activities were taking place inside the jails. (PTI)