Gift Joseph Okpakorese
The recent wave of attack on prison facilities and institutions of reprimands and corrections is becoming alarming. Some days ago over three thousand four hundred (3,400) inmates were declared missing, reportedly said to have escaped from a well-secured facility in the eastern region of the country.
Now the federal government has swung into action and request the aid of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) for assistance in catching these criminal elements who escaped from custody.
Narrating the incident, THE PUNCH revealed to the general public that the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) enlisted the support of INTERPOL to be on the lookout for the inmates after recent jailbreaks.
Also a representative of the NCS, who corroborated the story, went further to inform the general public on how dangerous the prisoners who escaped from the Imo state correctional facilities were. He said; ” a total of 3,471 “dangerous” inmates are still on the run.”
According to him, some dangerous-looking men fully armed had stormed the federal prison in Imo state and during the raid, they proceeded to set free an estimated figure of over 1,800 inmates.
The Prison-break which looked like a random attack was the most recent in a series of assaults on institutions of this magnitude all across the nation. For him, this was an unacceptable trend that poses a great threat to the lives and properties of citizens, especially as it was these same negative behavior and their nefarious activities of crime that got them into these prison facilities in the first place. Residents are hereby encouraged to be on the lookout for any form of unusual persons with traits of criminal behavior within their neighborhoods and regions.
Meanwhile, media sources revealed that the NCS has already taken the initiative to be collating information and taking the statistics of all inmates and forwarding them to various security organizations as part of their efforts to re-arrest them.
Nevertheless, as a way of collaborative effort, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) is also vigilant and carrying out their investigations to help bring back into custody the escaped inmates.
“Suffice it to say that the bulk of those who fled Owerri correctional center are hardened criminals,” the source added.
Commenting on the sad and frightening episode, the public relations officer of the NCS Francis Enobore, confirmed that the list of escaped prisoners will be broadcasted and sent to all security outlets with particular emphasis on both the INTERPOL and the NIS.
“Like the ones we are processing now, we want everything to be comprehensive so that we send them at the same time,” he reportedly said.
“We also realize that waiting for the list to be comprehensive before sending may also slow down the manhunt, so these batches that are coming up would be sent for local searches at motor parks and other places, but everything would be uploaded to the (INTERPOL) platform.”
