Gandhinagar: In the wake of recovery of mobile phones from some jails during a recent search operation in Gujarat, the state government on Wednesday informed the Legislative Assembly that it has now decided to install more powerful jammers that can block even 5G mobile signals.
In a mega overnight operation on March 25, the Gujarat police conducted simultaneous searches at 17 jails across the state, during which mobile phones were recovered from three jails, said Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, in the Assembly on the last day of the Budget session.
The police teams had found 16 mobiles, 10 electronic items, 29 lethal objects and even narcotics during the mega drive, he said.
The minister was speaking on this issue under rule 116 of the Assembly, which deals with “matters of urgent public importance”.
During this surprise search operation across the state, police teams also found tobacco products and a pen drive from the prison barracks. Of the total 17 jails searched, including Ahmedad’s Sabarmati central jail, nothing suspicious or illegal was found from five jails, Sanghavi said.
“At present, jammers which can block 2G mobile signals are installed in our jails. Such jammers have their limitations because phones available in the market today are even 5G-enabled. Hence, for better security, we have decided to install jammers that can block even 5G signals in our jails,” he told the House.
The search operation, in which 1,700 police personnel were involved, began on Friday night. The intention behind the move was to check if any illegal activity was taking place there and also to ensure that the inmates are getting facilities they are entitled to as per the law, the minister added.
According to him, the home department has already initiated a probe against officials of those jails where such illegal items were recovered from the inmates.
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