Alert prison escort averts mobile phone smuggling attempt

Alert City Armed Reserve (CAR) police personnel escorting Parappana Agrahara prison inmates foiled the attempt of a woman trying to hand over a mobile phone to one of the undertrial prisoners who had come along with others to appear before the court on Saturday.

The escort team accompanied 38 undertrial prisoners in a van and brought them to the city civil and sessions court for hearing.

While they were waiting for their turn sitting inside the van outside the court, an unidentified woman wearing a burkha appeared and started moving suspiciously around the vehicle.

Lokesh, Assistant Reserve Sub-Inspector, CAR south, noticed this and confronted her. The woman, sensing danger, fled after throwing a packet she was holding. Lokesh alerted his senior Suresh and the duo checked the package to find a mobile phone with a SIM card.

The phone was later handed over to the jurisdictional police station along with a complaint against an unknown woman to trace her and take legal action for trying to smuggle the phone a banned item inside the prison, through an inmate. Based on the complaint, the police have registered a case under various sections of the Karnataka Prison Act and are trying to track down the accused based on the SIM number.