Ops Satark: 17 mobiles, 50 sharp-edged weapons seized from Punjab’s Goindwal jail

Tarn Taran police carried out the special search jointly with the jail department on Wednesday under Operation Satark

As many as 17 mobile phones and 50 sharp-edged weapons were seized from the Goindwal Central Jail during a joint search operation of Tarn Taran police and the jails department on Wednesday. Under Operation Satark, searches were also carried out in Amritsar Central Jail, Patti sub-jail, Gurdaspur and Pathankot jails, but there were no recoveries.

As many as 17 mobile phones and 50 sharp-edged weapons were seized from the Goindwal Central Jail during a joint search operation of Tarn Taran police and the jails department on Wednesday (HT Photo)

Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Chauhan led the search operation at Goindwal Jail. A total of 230 police personnel, including six gazetted officers of the district police and five gazetted officers of the jail department, were part of the search operation.

“The entire jail premises was searched thoroughly by dividing it into various zones. During the search, 17 mobile phones, including six smartphones, five SIM cards, six chargers, six ear-phones, one wireless ear-pod, six data cables, a small quantity of opium and ganja, and many sharp-edged weapons and wires were recovered,” Chauhan said.

He said a case under the relevant Sections of the Prisons Act was being registered at police station Goindwal Sahib against the inmates, besides launching an investigation.

The Goindwal jail has been in the limelight for the wrong reasons since its inauguration in 2021.

In April, an alert was issued in all prisons of the state over an input that Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Lakhbir Singh alias Landa was planning to launch an armed attack on a central jail, including the Amritsar Central Jail and the Goindwal jail, to release his associates.

Additional director general of police (ADGP-jails) Arun Pal had written a letter to all superintendents of the state’s prisons to take necessary steps to avoid any untoward incident.

In February, two groups of rival gangs of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Lawrence Bishnoi clashed inside the Goindwal prison leading to the death of two gangsters involved in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s murder.