Authorities have launched a manhunt for one convict and five remandees who escaped from Karuri police cell after successfully cutting part of the windows.
Local media reported that Corporal Boniface Simiyu and Boniface Mwanzia were on duty when they heard a commotion in the Karuri police cell. The officers on duty checked the cells and discovered 'cell break'.
The 6 escaped through the ventilation window which had been cut and left on the floor. After a headcount, corporal Boniface Simiyu and Boniface Mwanzia's discovered that out of the 26 prisoners who were in custody, 6 were missing.
A search is underway led by the Sub-County police commander with leads on where the escapees might have taken refuge. File image of a Kenya Police Station Last year, three prisoners escaped from Siaya correctional facility. Dixon Mwakazi, Kenya Prisons Service spokesperson, told local tabloids that the three inmates escaped during a church service. “Our officers made frantic efforts to arrest the two who will be arraigned to face charges of escaping from lawful custody,” said Mwakazi. Police are yet to find the third escapee with a manhunt set up for close to a year now. In May this year , one of the two Ugandan suspects accused of kidnapping and possibly murdering a police officer in January escaped from police custody in unclear circumstances. Martin Wasike escaped from Kamukunji police station where the court had directed they be detained until June 2. “The prisoner was discovered missing by the OCS while checking the prisoners in custody. A team of officers from the Kenya Police Service and DCI Kamukunji has been dispatched to Mathare slums to track down the suspect,” Police headquarters said. Martin Wasike had been charged together with a Kenyan Phoebe Anindo Andayi and another Ugandan Shariff Wanabwa for allegedly kidnapping Constable Abel Musati on January 19.
The 27-year-old officer who attached to Kamukunji police station has not been traced since then but detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) later on April 17 recovered his mobile phone in Eastleigh.