SAN FRANCISCO, August 05, (THEWILL) – The police in Edo State has arrested four suspects in connection with an attempt to attack the Oko Maximum Prison in Benin, the state capital, to free a number of kidnappers remanded in the facility.
Police sources said suspected militants had planned to launch a dynamite on the prison with a view to releasing some hardened convicts and those standing trial.
There was tension around the prison yard following security reports of the planned jailbreak by the suspects.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Dan Mallam, who confirmed the arrest, said the four arrested suspects had already made confessional statements on the planned incident.
Reacting, the state command of the Nigeria Prisons Service, in a statement by its spokesman, Aminu Suleman, said, “Intelligence report was received from the commissioner of police on a planned attack on a prison facility, hence, the Controller of Prisons, Joseph Usendiah, upscaled the security level in and around the prisons with further deployment of regular and armed prisons personnel as well as police personnel in synergy with the commissioner of police and other security agencies to forestall any form of security breach.
“The prison facilities are, therefore, secured while other security Actions are still ongoing.”
