An early morning raid led by Director General of Prisons (DGP) Rishiraj Singh in the Central Prison in Kannur on Saturday unearthed mobile phones, chargers, ganja, iron rods and weapons kept illegally by the inmates in prisoners’ blocks in the jail.
The jail officials said the surprise raid began at around 4 a.m. when the DGP reached the prison accompanied by Inspector General of Police (Kannur Range) Ashok Yadav and District Police Chief Prateesh Kumar. A posse of 150 police personnel took part in the raid which lasted till 7.30 a.m.
Jail officials said that a case has been registered against four inmates, including a convicted CPI(M) worker identified as Ranjith. Three mobile phones, ganja, a knife and iron rods were seized from them. Jail authorities are planning to shift the four inmates to jails in other parts of the State, they said. Mobile phone chargers and transistor radio sets were among the items seized during the raids in the jail blocks conducted simultaneously.
The police personnel were divided into 15-member groups. Each group, led by a jail officer, conducted the raid in the blocks, the officials said.
A similar raid was conducted in the Central Jail at Viyyur in Thrissur, the officials said. They were conducted following complaints that inmates were smuggling in mobile phones, drugs and tobacco products.
