A daring jailbreak plan was foiled at Sabarmati jail here when the prison authorities detected a tunnel that had been dug by 14 of the 55 accused of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. The 16-feet deep and 26-feet long tunnel was detected on Sunday though an official announcement about it was made only on Monday.

The tunnel was detected by police sub-inspector, Govind Nikumb, whose attention was drawn by the suspicious behaviour of some inmates. Additional director general of police (prisons) PC Thakur told DNA that Nikumb had noticed that two men were suddenly trying to get away from him.

“He followed them and found that a volleyball net had been stretched out on the ground near the toilet area. He could also smell wet mud,” the ADG (prisons) said.

Nikumb thought that the two prisoners were using the net to either lay a trap to catch doves for eating or to train them to carry messages to the world outside, said Thakur.Then Nikumb began an inspection of the entire area and soon noticed mud near the toilet and yellow grass on the mud. On further inspection, he found that yellow grass had been put on the mud by someone as the grass in the rest of the garden was green.

He became suspicious when he probed the mud with his rifle and found that his weapon could sink deep into the mud. “He then dug into the mud and found the tunnel,” Thakur said.

The accused had covered the tunnel first with a manhole lid and a cloth. Mud and grass were used to cover the cloth at the ground-level.

According to jail authorities, the mastermind of the entire jailbreak plan is Hafiz Hussain Mullah alias Adnan, 27, a third-year civil engineering student of NIT-Suratkal, Karnataka. Two other accused, Shahduli and Shibily from Kerala, had also helped Adnan in the plan. The tunnel had been dug from the Chhota Chakkar area of the jail.

Senior police officers were informed about the tunnel. Eventually, the Ahmedabad police commissioner, and officers from the Anti-Terrorist Squad and Special Operation Group visited the jail. The investigation of the incident has been handed over to the detection of crime branch. Joint commissioner of police, DCB, AK Sharma said the police were trying to find out if someone from outside was also involved in the incident.

Police suspect that the accused were trying to gain access to the main drainage line that goes out of the prison. The accused could also have used a map to work on their plan.