Five prison guards arrested in Beira

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Five prison guards arrested in Beira

12:25 CAT | 11 Nov 2018

Photo: Notícias

The Mozambican police on Friday arrested five prison guards suspected of involvement in the escape the previous Sunday of eight prisoners from the main jail in the central city of Beira.

According to anonymous sources cited by the online version of the independent daily “O Pais”, the five were detained because of “strong indications” that they facilitated the break-out. Six other guards are still being interviewed by a joint team from the Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) and the Sofala Provincial Attorney’s Office.

The cell from which the fugitives escaped has the capacity to accommodate four people, but on the day of the escape it has holding 16 inmates, some of them serving sentences and others awaiting trial for a variety of crimes, including murder.

Among the fugitives is Isaias Nicolau, awaiting trial for the murder of Portuguese citizen Ines Bota, whose body was dumped in the Pungue river about 70 kilometres north of Beira,

Another escapee is Moniz Bambo, sentenced a month ago to 16 years imprisonment for his role in the theft of 29 million meticais (about 483,000 US dollars) from a Beira branch of the country’s largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM.

Bambo has form when it comes to escaping from Beira Central Prison. He orchestrated an earlier break-out in August 2017, when 16 prisoners fled. Only five of them were recaptured, including Bambo himself.

The authorities found a saw in the cell which is believed to be the instrument used to cut through the bars on one of the cell windows, through which the eight men escaped.

The escape occurred at about 02.00 on Sunday morning. When some prison guards realised what was happening, they acted to prevent any other inmates from escaping. But by that time, the first eight had already scrambled over the prison wall. It is thought that they may have been injured, since the wall is protected with barbed wire.

Source: AIM