29 December 2008
Maputo — Somewhere between six and ten prisoners escaped from a cell in a police station in the southern Mozambican city of Matola on the night of 25 December, according to a report in the independent daily "O Pais".
The police failed to give the exact number of escapees, and blamed the break-out on the "relaxation" of the guards on Xmas Day. The three guards on duty at the time have been detained.
According to "O Pais", a Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the break-out and was given 48 hours to produce its report.
Meanwhile the report into the escape of three assassins on 7 December from the cells of the Maputo City Police Command has not yet seen the light of day. The three fugitives are Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho"), who led the death squad that murdered investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso in November 2000, Custodio Luis de Jesus Tomas ("Todinho"), accused of the murder of the director of the Maputo central prison, Jorge Microsse, and Samual Janurio Nhare ("Samito"), involved in bank robberies and the murder of police officers.
Interior Minister Jose Pacheco told reporters that the report into this escape was completed on time, and would be released to the public "at an opportune moment".
He confirmed that the general inspector of the Interior Ministry, Benedito Zinocacossa, had not been a member of the Commission of Inquiry, much less its chairperson, thus denying claims made a fortnight ago by the national police spokesperson, Pedro Cossa.
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