Seven Kamiti Maximum Prison wardens have been arrested for aiding and abetting the escape of three terror convicts.
In a statement released by Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiangi, he termed it incompetence and laxity among the officers.
The prison is one of the most secured government facilities in the country.
“…the escape from arguably the most secured maximum prison facility in the country was abetted by laxity and incompetence and vowed more arrests and prosecutions will follow after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations moved in to investigate the prison break,” said Matiangi.
A massive manhunt involving specialized teams had been launched.
The three escapees are; Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga a.k.a Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo.
The DCI has put Ksh.60 million bounty on the heads of the terror suspects.
“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.”
Matiangi assured total protection for whistle-blowers who will volunteer information that could lead to the rearresting of the prisoners.
They have been described as dangerous with the manhunt teams especially paying attention to the country’s borders and exit points.
‘We are all mobilized and we have sent messages across the country and all exit and possible movement points out of the country. We are going to conduct a massive manhunt for those three. They are dangerous criminals and we have to get them. And we are going to get them,”
Kenyans have been urged not to panic over the latest mysterious escape of dangerous prisoners saying security teams were on high alert and had managed to pre-empt many of the planned terror attacks.
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.
