The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory Command, Bennet Igweh has warned the 118 prison escapees from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Suleja, Niger State, to stay away from the FCT, adding that he wouldn’t spare any one of them if caught.
Igweh gave the warning during an exclusive interview with Crowther Radio, a local radio station in Abuja, on Saturday, where he vowed to ensure the escapees’ re-arrest.
Recall that 118 prisoners being held at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Suleja, Niger State, escaped from the facility on Wednesday night after a heavy downpour wreaked havoc, damaging the perimeter fence of the facility, and enabling the prisoners’ escape.
In a statement on Thursday, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, FCT Command, Adamu Duza, said 10 of the fleeing inmates had been recaptured and taken into custody, and that the Service alongside other security agencies, were in “hot pursuit” of the others.
During the interview, the CP noted that the FCT police had recently recaptured three prisoners who had escaped from the Kuje Prison after the jailbreak in 2022 and warned their counterparts that it was no longer business as usual in the FCT.
“Since the day before yesterday when 118 inmates escaped from Suleja prison, I know and you know that their point of call will either be the Suleja-Madalla area, and the next place you will see them is in Abuja. We are monitoring them. Remember about two years ago, there was a jailbreak in Kuje. We are still arresting them; we have just arrested three of them in an armed robbery operation. I have just returned three of them to Kuje the day before yesterday.
“So, we know that they may like to infiltrate into Abuja. We are working up all our intelligence officers.
“I warn them not to try to enter FCT because I will not spare them at all. Please and please, I warn all of them not to try to enter FCT, it is not business as usual again, and can never be,” Igweh said.
He further called on residents to arrest and hand over anyone suspected to be an escaped prisoner to the nearest police station, adding that the FCT police had contacted the NCoS authorities to provide pictures of the escapees.
“I ask the public to equally watch out. Once you see somebody you suspect or you are convinced is an escapee from the prison yard, you have every authority to arrest that person and hand him over to the nearest police station, who can check whether he’s an escapee or not.
We have contacted the Correction authorities that we need their pictures so that when we see them in the FCT, we can re-arrest them and hand them back to the Correctional facilities.”
