Six juvenile inmates escape from detention centre in Sapele

The Delta State Police Command has confirmed that six of 14 juvenile inmates yesterday escaped from the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development Remand Home and Detention Centre in Sapele, Delta State.

The escapee juvenile inmates (all male), ranging from age 14 to 17 years, reportedly escaped from the juvenile remand home along Abeke Road in Sapele, with five, including one and only female, remaining.

The Guardian gathered that the juvenile inmates escaped in what they described as “mysterious and funny.”

The source said: “I think it was a carefully-planned escape by the six inmates. If you look inside, you will find out that an iron bar was used to shift the burglar bars to create space for their escape. Though the burglar bars are old and rusty before the net was ripped open, I think they chose night so that they could escape without being noticed before dawn.

“It is still unknown how the angle bar was smuggled in because with the new security presence in the facility, one would have thought it was impossible to have that kind of tool to plan their escape and if not for the swift intervention of the security men and men of the vigilante, the remaining inmates would have absconded,” the source said.

It was learnt that the DPO attached to Sapele police station got wind of the incident almost late, but still intervened to prevent others from escaping.

The remand home is said to be housing 14 inmates, with 13 being male and the only girl housed in the female wing of the facility.

Meanwhile, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Onome Onowakpoyeya, while confirming the escape of the teenagers, said: “Six inmates escaped this early morning and we are doing everything to find them.”