Uproar grows louder over convicts’ escape from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
Uproar grows louder over circumstances under which three terror convicts escaped from the country’s most guarded prison.
The three escapees; Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga also known as Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo alias Yusuf escaped on Monday night.
According to police investigations, the three fugitives broke out of the maximum security prison by drilling a hole through the wall.
Once outside the cell, the three are reported to have scaled a ten foot perimeter wall using a rope before exiting the highly guarded facility, all without attracting the attention of armed wardens.
Abikar was charged and convicted in 2019 over his links to Al-Shabaab and for abetting the Garissa University attack of April 2015 that left 148 people dead while Odhiambo was arrested in 2019 for trying to join the Somali terror group.
Akhulunga was arrested in 2012 over a foiled attack on Kenya’s parliament
and charged with possessing explosives, ammunition and firearms.
The three are said to have been in the same cell with convicted convict Elgiva Bwire.
Bwire had been released on Thursday, October 28 from Kamiti Maximum prison after serving a 10-year prison term since 2011.
The self-confessed al Shaabab member, Bwire, alongside his lawyer Hassan Nandwa and his mother were taken by unknown persons and is said to have gone underground.
“He vowed to carry out retaliatory attacks in the country against civilians and security personnel…and is believed to be planning said attacks,” stated DCI.
Already, seven wardens are in police custody, with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi blaming laxity and incompetence.
“We will not only go the direction investigations will point us but we will act
resolutely to ensure this kind of recklessness does not happen again because it exposes our people. Definitely, there is a certain level of irresponsibility we have to deal with in this particular case,” read part of the statement.
He revealed that their extensive tour of Kamiti including Block A 6 where the trio had been held did not appear to support the official version of escape given by the prisons’ managers.
“We have gone to the place where the escape allegedly happened, and we have formed certain opinions. We don’t want to discuss that because we don’t want to interfere with the work that the DCI is doing,” he said.
The CS who led a senior security team to Kamiti prison last evening further announced a massive manhunt involving specialized teams has been launched across the country for the three terror suspects.
The DCI has placed a Sh60 million bounty on their recapture.
Hours after their escape, three suicide bombers killed three people in twin explosions in Uganda’s capital yesterday in which dozens wounded causing panic within the country.
However, Ugandan Police confirmed the bomb blasts were suicide attacks by radicalized groups linked to Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) and Ugandan rebels working the Islamic State (IS) and based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The twin explosion has prompted the country to heighten security within its towns and borders.
National Police Service (NPS) Spokesperson, Bruno Shioso has however there is no terror threat within the country and urged Kenyans to remain vigilant.
“We have activated our security installations across the country with heightened security within our towns and borders. While we remain on high alert to safeguard residents and their properties, we encourage the public to be watchful of any suspicious persons and activities within their neighborhoods and report them to a nearest police station or on our toll free numbers 999/112 and 0800722203,” NPS stated.
