5 jail officials transferred 2 days after militants' escape

Amid allegations of use of cell phones by militants inside jail, the government yesterday transferred five jail officials including the deputy inspector general (DIG) of prisons of Dhaka division.

Tohidul Islam, DIG (prisons) of Dhaka division has been transferred to Rangpur Division, according to a home ministry gazette notification.

AKM Fazlul Hoque, Chattogram division DIG of prisons, will replace Tohidul.

Md Altab Hossain, DIG (prisons) of Rangpur division, has been transferred to Chattogram division, reads the notification signed by Mohammad Abu Sayed Molla, deputy secretary of the home ministry.

According to a separate gazette notification signed by the deputy secretary, Md Abdul Jalil, senior jail super of Kashimpur High Security Jail, was transferred to Rajshahi Central Jail.

He will be replaced by Subrata Kumar Bala, senior jail super of Rajshahi Central Jail.

Earlier, the counter-terrorism and transnational crime (CTTC) unit officials, investigating Sunday's snatching of two convicted militants from police custody, said militants were told about the plan beforehand over mobile phone while they were imprisoned.

The militants got access to cell phones inside the high security jail, said investigators. A CTTC team on Monday visited Kashimpur High Security Jail to collect information regarding the incident, a senior official involved with the investigation told The Daily Star.

Operatives of banned militant outfit Ansar al Islam fled with convicts Moinul Hasan Shamim and Abu Siddiq Sohel after attacking a police constable who was taking them and two other militants from a courtroom to a prison cell of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court.

The convicts broke free after the attackers sprayed a chemical into the constable's face, causing momentarily blindness, and then another man took them on a motorcycle and fled in broad daylight. The operation involved 10-12 people.