Patna, June 28: Tired of repeated raids, Beur jail inmates have stopped keeping cellphones in cells at nights. But make no mistake. They have not stopped talking over mobile phones.

The prisoners slip in handsets kept in nearby shops for a few hours in daytime in connivance with some jail officials and do the talking. Conversation over, the phones returned to the stores.

Based on a specific intelligence report, police today raided at least two such shops — one of sweets and the other a parlour — around 11am and recovered 30 cellphones. Most of them belonged to the jail inmates.

Senior police officers said the prisoners, in connivance with some jail employees, had started to keep their mobiles in these shops. The handsets were slipped in between 12noon and 1pm, when the shifts of the jail officers changed, Patna City superintendent of police (SP) Shivdeep Lande told The Telegraph.

“Two shops were raided today and several cellphones were recovered. Most of them belong to the inmates of the jail. Two persons of the shops have been taken into custody. They are being interrogated,” the officer said.

“At present, the police are trying to get more details about the entire network. It is clear that some jail officials are involved,” the SP said.

The officer said the recovered cellphones would be scanned to find their users.

Lande said the recovery of just six mobile handsets in the past two raids on Beur jail had puzzled the cops.

On June 23, a raid was conducted between 2.30am and 5am. Just three cellphones were seized that day. The raid on April 12 had also seen the recovery of just three mobile handsets.

“These recovery figures were a bit puzzling for the police. The matter was investigated and we received a tip-off on cellphones being kept in the shops near the jail. Based on specific intelligence reports, the police today raided them and recovered the mobile handsets,” the SP said.

With most of the raids conducted in the late night or early morning, the prisoners had started to keep the phones in the shops at nights. The mobile handsets were sent inside the jail between 12noon and 1pm, when the shifts changed. The inmates used them freely inside the jail throughout the afternoon. The handsets were transferred back to the shops before late evening, the police said.