215 Prisoners Escape With Weapons From Uganda Prison

More than 200 prisoners have reportedly escaped from jail in Uganda, carting away weapons to an unknown location in the north-eastern part of the country.

Naija News learnt that the prisoners escaped the prison after dispossessing their guards and fled the government prison in Moroto with weapons.

It was reported that the prisoners broke out of the prison near the army barracks in the district of Moroto in northeast Uganda on Wednesday afternoon, September 16. However, authorities in Uganda have reportedly launched a manhunt to recapture the inmates.

Confirming the occurrence, the country’s prison commissioner, Johnson Byabashaija told newsmen on Thursday, September 17 that the inmates overpowered their guards and escaped with weapons in after a shootout.

He said, “The prisoners seized guns from the armoury at a government prison in Moroto, about 460km from Kampala, before dashing for the cover of nearby mountains,”

“About 215 inmates are still on the run. Uganda’s prison service, working with the police and the army with support from ground and air assets, have been deployed to rearrest the inmates,” he said.

“There is concern that some guns are in the wrong hands, but these will be recaptured. We have enough forces on the ground and helicopters to track them. The public is advised to stay calm,” said Byabashaija.

“One inmate was shot during the escape, three others were recaptured, but the rest are at large, having escaped towards Mount Moroto where our operation is focusing at the moment.”

According to the prison spokesman, Frank Baine, some of the prisoners shed their bright yellow jumpsuits to avoid aerial detection and all left on foot half-naked.

Baine described the jailbreak as “one of the rarest cases of its kind in the history of Uganda’s Prison Service”.

In another news, Naija News reported that a 60-year-old Sicilian mafia boss, Guiseppe Fanara during a jail fight with prison officials bites off and swallowed the finger of one of the officials.