Daily Times

Two Afghan prisoners detained at Torkham border fled from the jail in Landi Kotal on the night between Thursday and Friday.

It needs to be mentioned here that on a tip, the National Logistic Cell (NLC) had apprehended two Afghan citizens in Torkham the other day, who were wanted to Islamabad police in various heinous crimes. They were handed over to Khasadar officials in Landi Kotal.

The Levies personnel, while confirming the incident, said that the prisoners arrived in the lockup at 11:50pm and at 12:15 am, the two prisoners identified as Khalid and Fayaz, hailing from Laghman and Nengarhar provinces of Afghanistan, arrested in Torkham, ran away through exhaust fan opening.

When Landi Kotal sub-jail superintendent Akhtar Shah was contacted, he said that the detainees were not handed over to the jail authority and were in the detention of the Khasadar officials.

“We cannot keep a person in the jail without warrant or proper First Information Report (FIR),” he added.

Khyber District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Iqbal took notice of the incident and appointed Abid Afridi as investigative officer, who visited the Landi Kotal jail and collected evidence from the site. He said that those involved in the negligence would be dealt with as per law.

The locals expressed dissatisfaction over the occurrence and said that besides extra security deployed at all entrances and exits, the prison break had put a question mark on the performance of the security agencies.

They demanded of the authorities concerned to deploy capable police officials in the area to serve the masses.