NAIROBI,Kenya, Nov, 17 – Truck drivers operating along the Kenya-Uganda border now want the state to provide them with mugshots of three terror convicts that escaped from the Kamiti Maximum Prison on Sunday.
According to the chairperson of Clearing Agents in the country Ken Chemase, it is a possibility that fugitives could attempt to cross the border into Uganda and as such, such provisions could help drivers spot them and notify law enforcement agencies.
“we should be extra careful and now that the clearing fraternity work 24 hours at the border…we have a lot of porous entry points,” said chairperson Clearing Agents Ken Chemise.
Thousands of Kenyans operate along the border with Uganda, earning a living from vibrant trade in the area.
“What happened in Kampala can easily happen here. We urge our colleagues to be extra careful when working and cautious on who they work with. They need to be extra vigilant,” he said.
The country is on high alert following a suspected terror attack in Uganda’s capital Kampala that killed several people and injured scores of others.
Recently the country’s security apparatus revealed that they were mobilizing resources to respond to any possible eventuality at the Ethiopia border with Kenya following the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency by prime minister Abiy Ahmed.
Also, internally Kenya has launched a wide scale manhunt for three convicted terror suspects that fled from the Kamiti Maximum Prison on Sunday evening.
Seven wardens at the Kamiti Maximum Prison are in police custody following the escape of three convicts who were serving jail terms for terrorism-related crimes.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi said preliminary investigations suggested the escape from arguably the most secured maximum prison facility in the country was abetted by laxity and incompetence and vowed more arrests and prosecutions will follow after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations moved in to investigate the prison break.
“We will not only go the direction investigations will point us but we will act resolutely to ensure this kind of recklessness does not happen again because it exposes our people. Definitely, there is a certain level of irresponsibility we have to deal with in this particular case.”
The CS who was flanked by principal secretaries Karaja Kibicho (Interior) and Zeynab Mohammed (Correctional Services), the Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai, DCI boss George Kinoti and Commissioner General of Police Wycliffe Ogallo revealed that their extensive tour of Kamiti including Block A 6 where the trio had been held did not appear to support the official version of escape given by the prisons’ managers.
“We have gone to the place where the escape allegedly happened, and we have formed certain opinions. We don’t want to discuss that because we don’t want to interfere with the work that the DCI is doing.”
The fugitives include, Mohammed Ali Abikar who was jailed for 41 years for his role in the Garissa university Attack.
Musharraf Abdallah alias Shukri or Alex Shikanda was serving a 22 year sentence after he was convicted for being in possession of explosives and firearms. He is also said to have been planning an attack on parliament in 2019.
Joseph Juma Odhiambo was convicted for travelling to a terrorist designated country without passing through a designated immigration exit point and failing to report departure to the immigration office.
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