Ten suspects on Monday escaped from a cell of the
Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Bayelsa State Police Command in Yenagoa, the
state capital.
However, out of the 10 escapees, five were said
to have been re-arrested in Yenagoa and Agbura, on the outskirts of the state
capital, on Tuesday.
It was learnt that the re-arrest of the five
suspects followed an order of a manhunt by the state Commissioner of Police,
Mr. Asuquo Amba.
It was learnt that some inmates of the SARS
detention cell, led by one Touch-Touch, cut the iron protector at the
toilet in one of the cells and escaped through the ceiling of the building
without being noticed by operatives on duty.
The incident, which was said to have occurred at
about 10pm on Monday, was discovered when a security official of the Yenagoa
Local Government Area, raised the alarm on noticing strange persons jumping
into the council’s premises from the SARS headquarters.
It was learnt that two of the fleeing suspects
were arrested at Agbura community, where they were hiding, while three others
were arrested in an open field of an unnamed company.
A security guard of the abandoned company was
said to have called the emergency number of the police, which led to the arrest
of the three fleeing suspects on the company’s premises.
Some legal practitioners in the state blamed the
incident on the poor condition of the detention facility located along the
Federal Road Safety Corps Road in Yenagoa.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa
State Police Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident.
Butswat, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said,
“At about 2am, November 7, 2017, the Incident Duty Officer of the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, while on routine cell check, discovered that 10 suspects
escaped through the ceiling of the SARS detention facility.
“Policemen immediately cordoned off the detention
facility and re-arrested three out of the 10 suspects that escaped. The
profiles of the suspects have been circulated to our intelligence sources and
efforts have been intensified to re-arrest the remaining suspects.’’
The spokesman urged members of the public not to
panic but volunteer useful information that would assist the police in
arresting the fleeing suspects.
He said three of the suspects who were arrested in
Yenagoa were one Theophilus, 22; New Year, 21; and Jamilu Buhari, 27.
“The three re-arrested suspects were sleeping at
about 10pm on Monday when they heard detainees escaping and they took advantage
of the situation,’’ Butswat added.
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