The Gujarat police raided its 17 jails across the state simultaneously in an overnight mega operation and recovered 39 "lethal" objects, 16 cell phones, ten electrical items and narcotic substances.
In a statement released on Saturday, the state government said 1,700 police personnel were involved in the operation, wearing body-worn cameras to video record the operation.
During the operation, inmates at Surat's Lajpore jail staged protest against the policemen. When asked about the 39 "lethal" objects found from the jails, he said that information will be revealed after they are "thoroughly examined" by experts.
The operation was directly monitored by minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi and Director General of Police Vikas Sahai. The decision to conduct the raids was taken after "a high-level meeting" held at the DGP office in Gandhinagar Police Bhawan.
Addressing the media, Sahai said that the purpose behind the operation was to check if all necessary facilities were available to the jail inmates and to find if any illegal activities were taking place in the jails.
The raids were carried out at all four central jails in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat along with 11 district jails and specials jails at Palara and Galpadar in Kutch.
During the operation, 16 mobiles, 10 electrical items, 39 lethal items, 519 smoking items and three narcotic substance were recovered. Officials said that a detail report will be submitted to the state government.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks