MUZAFFARABAD: According to officials on Friday, three of the eighteen inmates who had escaped from the Poonch district jail in Rawalakot over the weekend have been taken into custody by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) police.
Separate police teams captured two of the escapees, Muhammad Usman Afraz and Faizan Aziz, throughout the night of Wednesday and Thursday, while Noman Asif, the third, was taken into custody on Thursday night.
The government had issued a reward of Rs. 10 million for each of the six escapees, including Afraz, 24, who was given a death sentence for terrorism and murder. According to police reports, he was not only involved in the preparation of the jailbreak but was also formerly affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which is now banned.
Based on cooperative intelligence, Afraz was apprehended by police and intelligence teams from a high-altitude region in Singola near Rawalakot called a “dhok,” where people relocate their animals during the summer. The sources added that Afraz resisted being taken into custody, stabbing two police officers with a dagger and inflicting injuries that needed to be hospitalized.
Faizan Aziz was detained in the Pothi Baghluta neighborhood, which is located on the outskirts of Rawalakot. He is being tried in a murder case.
He was one of the eight escapees for whom the government declared a reward of Rs. 3 million apiece.
Noman Asif, who was given a 25-year prison term for murder, was taken into custody on Thursday night around 10 p.m. in the area of the Rawalakot Circuit House. Since some of his close relatives had been detained by the authorities, his family helped to expedite his arrest. Asif was one of three fugitives for whom the government has declared a Rs. 5 million cash bounty.
Nineteen inmates broke free from the Rawalakot district jail on Sunday afternoon, but one of them was killed after being hit by gunfire.
Six teams were organized to capture the escapees, and SSP Poonch Riaz Mughal told Dawn that they were working nonstop to complete the mission.
He stated that in addition to detaining 11 prison officials, including the superintendent and deputy superintendent, investigators had also detained a number of individuals who had paid visits to the inmates before to the escape.
According to SSP Mughal, preliminary investigations revealed that carelessness and duty neglect had both directly and indirectly contributed to the jailbreak.
Although the death row detainees were supposed to be confined in solitary confinement and in fetters, he noted, it had come to light that they were not, and that they frequently got visitors.
The individual who brought a pistol into the jail and gave it to an escapee has also been recognized. He will soon be taken into custody.
He pledged, “I am fully confident that we will hunt them all down shortly the way we are making every effort.”
