Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel on Monday recovered large quantities of contraband from Karachi's Central Jail during a search operation, jail police told DawnNews.

During the operation, which took 12 hours to complete, security personnel recovered mobile phones, air coolers, knife-cutters, freezers, stoves, DVD players and LED TVs in large quantities, jail police said.

The officials searched the barracks of all prisoners, paying special attention to those who belong to banned outfits.

The search operation was conducted days after two 'high-profile' militants of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi escaped from the facility in one of the most brazen acts of subversion in recent months.

The circumstances which led to the escape of the militants remain shrouded in mystery, as police officials said they were informed about the incident after a ‘considerable delay’.

Startling revelations about the incident indicate that the prisoners had escaped on Tuesday by breaking its grill while the jail staff came to know about their escape on Wednesday when they were supposed to be presented before the court inside the jail.

The jail administration has suspended 12 staff members, including Central Prison Superintendent Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh, Deputy Superintendent Faheem Memon and Assistant Superintendent Abdul Rehman Shaikh, after the two under-trial prisoners escaped.