Better jammers in Tihar

To counter wily inmates and the sweep of advanced technology, the Tihar prison complex will soon be equipped with a set of upgraded mobile jammers.

To counter wily inmates and the sweep of advanced technology, the Tihar prison complex will soon be equipped with a set of upgraded mobile jammers.

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These jammers will be capable of blocking mobile communications using third-generation (3G) electromagnetic signals.

The existing jammers in the Tihar Jail, numbering eight, are only capable of blocking communications using second-generation (2G) signals, which renders them vulnerable against the more sophisticated 3G technology.

“The ongoing upgradation project, being executed by the public sector Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), is expected to be complete by December,” said a source, on condition of anonymity.

The project is worth around Rs 20 lakh.

Confirming this, the jail’s spokesperson Sunil Gupta said, “The jammer, located at the Rohini sub-jail, has already been upgraded, while seven more jammers will get upgraded within two months.”

Gupta said the Delhi high court has also directed jail authorities to ramp up its jammer’s capability, in view of the introduction of 3G technology.

The jail authorities have also ordered two more jammers from BEL to increase its communications surveillance. s

The jammers currently installed have a range of 50 metres, within which they can block 2G mobile conversations.

The jammers are located close to the high security cells/wards inside the sub-jails where inmates charged with serious such offences as sedition, terrorism, organised crime and narcotics are housed.

This is in view of the fact that the eight jammers are tasked to block illegal mobile conversations at a prison complex that houses around 11, 000 inmates.

“Since we have clubbed the hardened criminals together, the limited number of jammers can work more effectively,” said the source.

He added, “We have noticed that a majority of prisoners do not try to smuggle in mobile phone sets. It is always a minority of hardened criminals who might do that.”