Three convicted militants, one of whom had taken part in a 2015 attack that killed 148 people, were recaptured on Thursday after they escaped from a maximum-security prison in Nairobi.
The directorate of criminal investigations, George Kinoti, disclosed that the three men were arrested as they tried to make their way to Somalia and were now being brought back to the Kenyan capital.
The escapees included Mohamed Ali Abikar, sentenced to 41 years for a 2015 attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenya that killed 148 people, mostly students.
The two other escapees from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison were Joseph Juma Odhiambo, jailed for trying to join the Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab in 2019, and Musharaf Abdalla Akhulunga, arrested for his participation in a foiled 2012 attack on parliament.
Police had described all three escapees as “dangerous” and offered a 60 million Kenyan shilling ($535,240) reward for information that could lead to their recapture.
The group raised suspicions when they sought directions to Boni Forest, close to the Somali border, the Daily Nation reported. The escapees looked dishevelled and one was limping, the Daily Nation said, quoting witnesses.
In line with this, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday sacked the country’s prisons boss Wycliffe Ogallo over the escape, Kenyatta’s office said in a statement.
According to a document from the Director of Public ProsecutionsEight people who worked at the prison were arraigned on Tuesday over their role in the escape.