Armed incursion into Nigerian jail to smuggle over 200 prisoners

A large number of unknown gunmen raided a jail in Nigeria’s north-central Kogi State on 12th September, 2021,caused in escaping more than 240 prisoners, prison authorities said on Monday.

A spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Francis Enobore, said in a statement the correctional facility in Kogi’s Kabba district came under fire and “immediately engaged the armed guards in a fierce gun battle.”

The storm took place at about 23:45 hrs, and around 294 inmates were in custody at the time of the attack: “224 are pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates”, the spokesman added.

During the raid, one policeman was killed and another was injured thus moved to the hospital.

Recapturing had been activated to find the fleeing inmates, three of them have been rearrested.

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, had described the prison break as “an act of terrorism,” but has yet to comment on the latest raid on the Kogi prison.

Source: A24+ Agencies