Thirteen inmates have escaped from the Koton-Karfi Medium Prison along Opareke in Kogi State, Punch reports.
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“Five pre-trial detainees out of the escapees had been recaptured with the assistance of other security agencies and local vigilante groups”, he said.
The Koton-Karfe prison is notorious for jailbreaks, this being its third between 2010 and 2013.
However, it was accommodating about 263 inmates as at the time of the jailbreak, Saturday.
It said appropriate measures have been set up to address congestion, particularly among prisoners awaiting trial, in line with the Federal Government’s reform agenda.
One of the escaped inmates was re-arrested nearly immediately by security agents, NAN reports.
It was gathered that Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Prison Service immediately sent a representative to Koton Karfe to assess the situation.
Saturday’s jailbreak occurs about a month after two prisoners escaped in a jailbreak from a maximum security prison in Kuje, Niger State.
An authoritative source at the prison told NAN correspondent on Sunday that armed and conventional squads of the Nigeria Prison Service had launched manhunt to re-arrest the fleeing inmates.
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Some of the information available to Governor Bello was that the welfare officer of the prison allowed the inmates access to their phones and this enabled them to communicate with their family members and gangs outside.
