Illegal communication: K-P to install mobile jammers inside jails

The need arose after complaints of rampant cellphone smuggling surfaced.

PESHAWAR: In an attempt to block illegal means of communication being used by prisoners in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) jails, the government has decided to install mobile phone jammers in prison facilities across the province.

Sources said  that the home and tribal affairs department and jail officials held a meeting, where they decided to install mobile phone jammers to stop illegal means of communication.

Officials of the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) have been asked to install the jammers inside K-P prisons.

The need for jammers arose after prison officials admitted that smuggling of mobile phones was rampant in jails, despite efforts to curb the practice. They argued that the only way to deal with the problem was to have jammers installed at prisons.

When contacted, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs K-P Muhammad Azam Khan told The Express Tribune that the government took this step to block illegal facility of communication inside jails, adding that the prison police were being blamed for facilitating the prisoners to use mobile phones inside jails.

“Let me tell you that these are not only the ordinary prisoners being kept inside the central jail Peshawar but some high-profile militants are also lodged there and we have credible information that the militants are using cell phones,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2012.