Seven of the 50 prisoners involved in the recent jailbreak at the Kakata Central Prison in Margibi County have been rearrested, The NEW DAWN has learned.
The Liberia National Police and correction officers picked them up in Margibi from Sunday, September 8, to Wednesday, September 11, 2024, while they were in and out of Kakata.
Two were caught by correction officers, and five by the county police. This week, on Sunday, September 8, about 50 prisoners broke jail at the Kakata Central Prison.
Although an investigation is ongoing into the jailbreak, sources within the prison compound told The NEW DAWN that no female was among the escapees.
According to sources, the all-male prisoners, late Sunday, angrily moved toward the main entrance of the Kakata Central Prison, which was manned during the night of the escape by only a guard and overpowered the guard in their desperate quest for freedom.
Though the Superintendent of the Kakata Central Prison is yet to respond to media inquiries following the escape, The NEW DAWN gathered that the detainees, both inmates, and convicts, allegedly broke locks to the iron gate of cells in which they were being held and made their way out.
Three of the escapees were rearrested on Sunday and Monday respectively this week - two picked up in Kakata and another caught in Compound District#4, Margibi County.
Prison authorities are said to have launched a hot pursuit for the remaining 47 prisoners, of whom most of them are reported to be in deplorable health conditions.
Recently, a drug (Kush) case involving three suspects transferred from the RIA Magisterial Court in Harbel to the 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Kakata, Margibi County, prompted a burglary at the court immediately after the first jury trial.
The burglars stole an unspecified quantity of Kush, which was kept at the court as evidence while the suspects were being held at the Kakata Central Prison.
This paper investigates the worth of the drug initially nabbed, which is estimated to be in the neighborhood of 30 million Liberian Dollars.
Since then, neither the court, Police, nor LDEA in the county has been able to arrest the perpetrators of the burglary, despite the police's claim to still be investigating.
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The burglary transpired amid rumors that the court was allegedly working in close connection with prison authorities to design a strategy for the release of the three suspects before Sunday's reported jailbreak.
The incident left residents of Kakata panicking, with the prison superintendent tightlipped, while the 13th Judicial Circuit Court referred this paper to the Supreme Court of Liberia for any inquiry regarding the burglary. Editing by Jonathan Browne
