Lokoja — Twenty-five out of the 119 inmates that were freed by gunmen Wednesday night when they attacked the Koton Karfe prisons in Kogi State have been re-arrested, prison officials in the state have said.

Gunmen suspected to be on a rescue mission stormed the prisons on Wednesday at about 7 pm, killing one prison warder and freeing their detained colleagues.

However, the spokesperson of the Kogi State Command of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Mrs Hadiza Aminu, has dismissed media reports suggesting that the attack was carried out by the Boko Haram sect. She also identified the warder that was killed as Mr. Richard Sesan.

Aminu, who spoke to Daily Trust yesterday in Lokoja, said 25 out of the 119 inmates that escaped from the prison during the attack have been re-arrested.

She said the attack was not by Boko Haram members as speculated but an attack by a robbery syndicate whose colleagues were among the inmates.

She said the detained robbery suspects were among the 120 inmates awaiting trial and noted that none of the convicted inmates left the prison.

She said the re-arrested inmates were picked in different locations in Koton Karfe and other villages along Lokoja-Abuja Highway.

She said that the service had launched manhunt for the remaining inmates and urged the fleeing inmates to turn up.

Police Commissioner Marvel Akpoyibo confirmed that the attack was by suspected armed robber to free their detained colleagues. He also dismissed insinuations making the rounds that the assault was by the Boko Haram sect.

He said Boko Haram members have no reason to attack the prisons because none of their colleagues were detained there.