Delhi’s Tihar jail, famous for its notoriety, has inducted six more Belgian Shepherd dogs in its canine squad to sniff out drugs and phones that are sneaked in illegally and to tighten vigil over the high-security barracks of the South Asia’s largest prisons complex.
Belgian Shepherd belongs to the same family as of the Belgian Malinois dogs, the breed that earned fame after one of these dogs had sniffed out al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden for the US Navy Seals in 2011.
Sandeep Goel, Director General, Delhi Prisons, told CNN News18 that the latest addition to their existing canine squad of three dogs was done recently. “We now have nine more dogs that have been provided to us by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Out of the 12 dogs that we have now, eight are Belgian Shepherd,” Goel said.
The DG said these dogs will be used to sniff out drugs, phones and other items that the inmates are often caught sneaking inside their cells. “The upgrading of our dog squad will certainly step up the vigil and will assist our security staff in further tightening the security at Delhi prisons,” he said.
Tihar, one of the three jail complexes that Delhi has, is believed to be the most notorious when it comes to inmates sneaking in phones, drugs or money. Over the years, most of Delhi’s infamous gangsters, who are currently lodged in Tihar, are believed to have made the jail a den of extortion and the headquarters of their crime syndicates.
Videos and pictures from inside the jail showing inmates using cell phones have also time and again surfaced on social media. Controversy around usage of cell phones from Delhi’s jails rose after Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s Rs 215 crore scam surfaced wherein he allegedly used a phone when he was lodged in Rohini jail to extort the exorbitant amount from one of his co-inmate’s wife.
In addition to strengthening their dog squad, Goel said they have also installed T-HCBS (Tower of Harmonious Call Blocking System). “One of the challenges before us is to curb the use of illegally sneaked in cell phones. These towers are very efficient when it comes to blocking of any outgoing call that is generated from within the jail. By September last year, we had installed three such towers that cover almost entire Tihar complex. One tower has also been installed at Mandoli jail. This technology is also easily upgradable with time,” Goel said.
The DG, however, said some dark spots are still created for which they plan to put an extra layer of traditional jammers especially in the high security zones of the prison. “We now plan to have a double layer of protection against illegal use of mobile phones,” he said.
Delhi Prison has also stepped up the vigil through CCTV cameras. A senior prison official said all three prison complexes at present have a total of 7,500 CCTV cameras installed. “1,000 additional CCTV cameras are being added to the existing network,” the officer said.
To further curb the practice of prohibited items being flung into the jail premises from outside, senior officials said they have installed nets. “Since Tihar has a vast open area, we have identified 25-30 spots where the items were dropped. Accordingly, we have installed nets horizontally to prevent this from happening,” said a senior officer from Delhi prisons.
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