Hospitalised prisoner manages to flee with policeman’s cell phone

Amir Amin was said to have been forcibly kept at the hospital.

PESHAWAR:

A politically connected prisoner, hospitalised at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, broke free of his chains, dodged three police constables and managed to escape on Wednesday.

“Amir Amin, son of Muhammad Amin, had been arrested by the Sarband Police on Bara Road on charges of smuggling drugs from Khyber Agency. He was handed a life imprisonment sentence,” a police official told The Express Tribune.

Amir is believed to be married into the family of a well-known political figure from Mardan district. He was hospitalised on March 28, 2012. Doctors repeatedly discharged Amir from hospital but he was sent back as his influential in-laws were busy arranging his release one way or another. From day one, there were rumours that Amir would escape from his private room at the hospital, some sources said.

“The man was arrested in 2008 by Sarband Police and imprisoned in Peshawar Central Jail,” said another police official, adding that Amir had not only escaped but also managed to take the mobile phone of a police constable with him.

According to the police, the three on-duty constables have been arrested and an FIR has been registered against them.

According to an eyewitness, Amir was provided all luxuries at the hospital. He stayed in Room No. 18 and a suspended SHO used to visit him frequently. “Police paid little attention to the security of the man,” the witness said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2012.