Escaped G-B prisoners 'brainwashed' jail officials: investigation officer

Prisoners developed close ties with jail staff on duty outside their barracks

GILGIT: Militants who escaped in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) jailbreak had 'brainwashed’ prison officials into helping them successfully escape, BBC Urdu reported on Wednesday.

On February 26, four prisoners, including two involved in the Nanga Parbat attack on 10 foreign climbers, attempted to escape from G-B jail. During the jailbreak, one prisoner was shot dead while another was injured, whereas two managed to escape successfully.

Read: G-B jailbreak: Escaped militants break siege, elude capture

Following the incident, authorities rounded up three head wardens, five wardens, one Frontier Corps (FC) official, one police official and a dispensary in-charge.

A member of the G-B jailbreak investigation team told BBC Urdu the details of the investigation showed that the prisoners had developed close ties with jail officials posted outside their barracks. They told them their reasons for taking arms against institutions and individuals who opposed their ideological viewpoint.

Read: Running scared: 'Fear of death prompted Gilgit jailbreak'

The officer said that the investigation also showed that the prisoners aides were also in contact with jail officials and "took care of their needs."

It was also learnt that jail officials who were taken into custody were on duty outside the prisoners’ barracks continuously for the past three months. It was therefore established that security arrangements were deliberately kept lax at the jail premises so that the prisoners could escape easily.

The investigation till now also suggest that that a second copy of keys were made for the barracks holding the prisoners who fled and it may be that the arrested jail officials were behind this.

Following the jailbreak, police and FC accelerated the ongoing search operation to find the two prisoners, Habibullah and Liaquat Ali, but to no avail.

Read: G-B jailbreak: Search operation under way for escaped militants

On Tuesday and Wednesday, police rounded up four suspected militants who allegedly met the prisoners before the jailbreak.