BORNO FLOOD: NCoS Admits 271 Inmates Missing, Reveals Identities
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has released the identities of 271 inmates who escaped during evacuation of inmates by officers of the service in the aftermath of the flood that ravaged Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, last week.
Spokesman of NCoS, Umar Abubakar, said seven of the 281 inmates who escaped have been recaptured.
The statement read in part, “the Nigerian Correctional Service has observed the flooding currently being experienced in Maiduguri, Borno State, and its environment.
“The unfortunate incident has left scars, bringing down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial centre Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the City.
“Upon the evacuation of inmates by officers of the service with support from sister security agencies to a safe and secure facility, 281 inmates were observed to be missing.
“However, it is important to note that the service is in custody of their details, including their biometrics, which is being made available to the public below
“The service is working in synergy with other security agencies as both covert and overt deployments have been activated to look out for them.
“Presently, a total of seven (7) inmates have been recaptured and returned to custody, while efforts are on ground to track down the rest and bring them back to safe custody.
“While this effort is on, the public is assured that the incident does not impede or affect public safety.”
A security analyst, Dr Kabir Adamu, Managing Director of Beacon Security and Intelligence Ltd, had in an interview with THE WHISTLER advised the NCoS on immediate steps to take in the aftermath of the inmates’ escape.
“The most immediate thing is to do a head count and identify whether or not prisoners have escaped, who they are and the reasons they were detained, if they are awaiting trial or they have been convicted, depending on the severity of their crime.
“For instance, If they are terrorism suspects or persons who have been convicted of terrorism, then the action first of is to identify where they are and of course rearrest them and keep them in detention.
“I believe the detention centre has their profile, which means they know who they are and their family members, and hopefully they will use all that information in an attempt to rearrest them.
“The second thing is to put out a notice to the community, to tell them that inmates have escaped, so the community can help with information as to their whereabouts. Also, the community should remain at high alert depending on what the persons that escaped were convicted for,” he said.
Speaking on the possibility of rearresting the fleeing inmates, the security expert said, “I don’t know the procedures that are in place. I mentioned profiling, it may include their biometrics. If that is in place, it means they have enough records (fingerprints, height, shape and others). It will be very difficult if they have not been profiled.
“Again, if they are convicted terrorist, they know that coming back to that place would mean probably they are dead.
“Giving the location of Borno, they can easily go into Niger (Republic) or Chad and from there into the wider Sahel or even beyond that. It all depends on immediate steps and what is available to the law enforcement and criminal justice system regarding their data and how they use that data to go after them.
“It means, we need to seek the support of our neighbouring countries and immediately send out information to our neighbouring countries, so they put them on the watch list.
“They can also contact INTERPOL. All of these will be determined on whether we have shared their data with the INTERPOL and then the INTERPOL can also assist us. Frankly, Borno is on the border and they can easily cross and that’s it.”
THE WHISTLER recalls that the NCoS had failed to admit reports of the inmates’ escape.
BORNO FLOOD: NCoS Admits 271 Inmates Missing, Reveals Identities is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
