The jail authorities yesterday ordered prisons across the country to be on alert in the wake of Sunday's escape attempt by five Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives including Shaekh Abdur Rahman's son at Comilla District Jail.
The authorities have suspended three guards of Comilla jail on charge of negligence of duty.
Meanwhile, the two committees formed on Sunday night--one by the home ministry and another by the jail authorities--to probe the jailbreak attempt began their work yesterday.
Home ministry Joint Secretary Mostafizur Rahman and Deputy Inspector General (DIG-prisons) of Chittagong division Major Saif are leading the probes.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddique said, “We have alerted the prisons across the country.”
He said they have asked jailers and superintendents to hold special meetings with guards and other officials and take necessary measures.
The militants on Sunday night beat up five guards at Comilla jail and tried to break free. Two of them--Nabil and Shakil Mohammad Galib--even managed to climb over the prison's eastern wall, but were caught by the guards on duty outside.
Over 500 JMB leaders and activists are now kept at 20 jails including those in Dhaka, Tangail, Kashimpur and Comilla. Currently, the country has 67 prisons.
Of the militants behind bars, 29 have been sentenced to death, 70 to life term, and 97 to different jail terms.
Earlier on March 29, six top JMB leaders including its chief Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were executed at four different jails for killing two Jhalakathi judges.
Law enforcers had arrested around 730 JMB operatives and militant suspects in crackdowns following the countrywide blasts on August 17, 2005.