Barely three weeks after 10 suspects reportedly escaped from a police detention facility in Yenegoa, another attempt was averted on Friday.
Barely three weeks after 10 suspects reportedly escaped from a police detention facility in Yenegoa, another attempt was averted on Friday.
Mr. Asuquo Amba, Bayelsa Police Commissioner who confirmed the attempted escape of suspects in a telephone interview said the incident occurred in broad daylight on Thursday when the suspects were taking their bath.
He said that the suspects in the cell had overpowered the policeman who opened the burglary proof for them but unknown to them the outer gate in the facility was locked.
"It was a tense situation but the prompt alertness of other policemen around the area saved the situation, none of the suspects escaped but the fact of the matter is that we do not have proper detention facilities."
"It is a makeshift arrangement, an office with burglary proof, we were lucky to avert this one but that does not mean that it will not happen again, the suspects can still plan another one, we desperately need to build proper detention facilities to hold suspects."
"The makeshift facilities we have are overstretched and we have written to the state government as well as engaged the judiciary to quicken the dispensation of justice because it is the slow pace of prosecution that makes our facilities overcrowded."
"The dearth of facilities here is hampering our efforts at policing the state," Amba said.
It will be recalled that on November 7, some suspects detained at the Special Anti Robbery Squad facility in Yenagoa escaped.
The police command had said that out of the 10 suspects that escaped, three were rearrested.
However, a reliable source had earlier told our correspondent on the November 7 incident that about 42 suspected armed robbers and cultists detained at the SARS facility broke free and escaped.
“The cell holds more than 50 suspects but it is empty, so it is difficult to give an accurate number, but we hear that 42 criminals were being detained,” the source said.
