Jail-break suspects battle for life
Two suspects are battling for their lives at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after allegedly being shot by police officers as they attempted to flee from a holding cell at Limbe Police Station in Blantyre.
Station Public Relations Officer Chifundo Kasunje confirmed the incident in an interview with The Daily Times but refused to confirm the shooting incident.
“During the night seven suspects broke out of our cells and we managed to re-arrest five. Only two of the suspects are at large. We are yet to find out the cause and our investigations will establish how they bolted from the cells,” said Kasunje.
However, The Daily Times investigations have established that 18 suspects allegedly bolted away from the cells using hacksaws, and subsequently overpowered two duty officers.
The suspects were intercepted just before they made their way out of the main gate by two police officers, one a traffic officer and another a senior officer who were alert on duty at the police complex entrance.
“The shooting of the two suspects by the officers scared away the other suspects who returned into the building but four made their way,” said one inside source who didn’t want to be identified.
Our visit to QECH discovered that two suspects were admitted to the hospital from Limbe Police Station at around 4:30am. Two police officers were guarding one suspect in the corridors of the Emergency Unit while another suspect was being operated on for head injuries.
“We were 18 of us, unfortunately, it was my colleague and I who were shot by the officers near the main gate,” said the admitted suspect.
The attempted escape involved both convicts and remandees.
Limbe Police is a three storey building with its fortified cells underground. It remains a mystery as to how the hacksaws that aided the suspects realise their cell break made their way into the cells.
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