After prison officials claimed they had caught several fugitives, authorities are still searching for 17 inmates who escaped during a jailbreak in Comoros.
According to the director of the prison administration in Moroni, the capital of the Indian Ocean island chain, 23 inmates escaped during the jailbreak on Wednesday night, although six were swiftly located.
Prison officials claimed that the convicts used a transfer from the yard to their dorms to accomplish their departure without providing any other information.
The exact reasons of their escape are still unknown, however public prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid claimed that there was “no outside influence” when the convicts escaped.
According to the jail administration, Moroni Prison today houses more than four times as many inmates as when it was first built in the 1960s to house about 80.
There are frequently demonstrations outside the dilapidated institution demanding improved jail conditions. According to a relative of one prisoner, inmates had complained about a lack of water and “irregular meal portions.”
According to Djounaid, the 17 people on the run have been located, and an inquiry has been started. When the nation was celebrating the national football team’s triumph over Kenya two years ago, over 40 prisoners broke out.
Inssa Mohamed, also known as Bobocha, was one of them and was charged with taking part in an attempted assassination of Comorian President Azali Assoumani.
After his daring escape, he was captured in Madagascar and extradited to Moroni in less than two months.
Since gaining independence from France in 1975, the Comoros islands of Anjouan, Grande Comore, and Moheli have experienced decades of oppressive poverty and political unrest, including around 20 coups.
