Over two hundred inmates managed to escape from District Prison Malir in Karachi last night, the Sindh police chief confirmed on Tuesday, adding that 78 were recaptured while one was shot dead.
Police officials earlier said the prisoners broke through the jail’s outer wall, which had been weakened due to the multiple low-intensity tremors felt in the area since Sunday. Police cordoned off the whole area and no one was allowed to enter or leave without ascertaining their identity.
Sindh Inspector General of Police (IG) Ghulam Nabi Memon on Tuesday told Dawn.com that over 200 prisoners managed to escape from Malir prison late on Monday night when they were brought out from their barracks for counting due to an earthquake, out of them 78 were recaptured while teams are being constituted to re-arrest the remaining 138.
Memon, who visited the jail earlier today, said that as per his assessment and briefings of jail and police officials, after the earthquake in the area, the jail administration brought an estimated 2,000 prisoners languishing in the jail from their barracks for counting at around 12:45am.
“Most of the prisoners were drug addicts,” he noted. “The addicts’ state of mind is such that they tend to develop mob psychology. Thus, when such an atmosphere was created inside the prison, the prisoners ran by opening the door of the jail,” he elaborated.
The police chief said FC personnel deployed at the prison resorted to massive aerial firing to push them back. He said the FC fired an estimated 700 shots. He said there were an estimated 2,000 prisoners, and 213 of them managed to escape.
The law enforcers launched an operation, recapturing 78 prisoners. “During the action, one prisoner was shot dead while two others were injured,” confirmed the Sindh IG. He said the situation was now under control.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon visits Malir Jail, Karachi on June 3, 2025. — Photo by author
The Sindh police head said they are setting up teams to re-arrest the remaining 138 escaped prisoners. “One of the escaped prisoners was brought back to the jail by his mother,” he added. The police and jail administration had information about all escaped prisoners.
To a question, the provincial police head opined ostensibly there would be “some lapses” and the prisoners, finding an opportunity, managed to escape.
However, he said the Sindh government has decided to set up an inquiry committee to ascertain the circumstances which led to the incident and fix responsibility for it.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn.com that one unidentified prisoner aged around 45 years old was brought dead to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre with a firearm injury. He was pronounced dead on arrival. “Doctors are waiting for police papers to conduct his post-mortem,” she added
The police surgeon said four other prisoners with gunshot injuries were also brought to the hospital for treatment.
They were identified as Mohammed Tahir, aged 28, who sustained a bullet injury on his left arm with no exit wound; Abdul Hadi, aged 25, who suffered firearm wounds on his hip joint and thigh; and the third prisoner, 35-year-old Akhter Naeem, who got a gunshot wound on his glutes.
