A total of 3,906 prisoners who escaped some of the nation’s custodial centres during attacks and prison breaks are yet to be rearrested, Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola has said.
The minister disclosed this yesterday during the weekly ministerial briefing hosted by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said of the 4,369 inmates who escaped from the centres since 2020, only 984 have been recaptured.
Aregbesola said the biometrics of custodial inmates in the country had been taken to ease the tracking and re-arrest of the escapees.
“How long can they continue to run from the state? The state is a patient bird. You can run, but you can never hide. We have their biometrics. Whenever and wherever they appear to transact any business, their cover will be blown.
“I will like to inform Nigerians that we have captured the biometric information of all inmates in the facilities of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), working in partnership with the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“Therefore, we have the capacity and are tracking all escapees from our facilities. In addition, we are working with and have shared the details of the escapees with INTERPOL to check the risks of cross border movements,” he said.
