A suspected gun runner recently arrested in Abuja, with large cache of arms and ammunition has escaped from the police custody.
Already, a police Inspector and nine other ranking and regular conscripts, said to be on duty at the time of the escape at the Garki Police Station, Abuja, have been detained and are undergoing intensive interrogation.
The arrested police officers were moved to the FCT Police Command Criminal Investigation Department, C.I.D, for further questioning at the weekend.
According to a source, “This is not a good time in the annals of the Nigeria Police’s records, we are yet to come out of the scenario created by the escape of the 25 December, 2011 Madalla bomb blast suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, who escaped from our custody but was later rearrested by the Department Of the State Security (DSS), this one came up again. How are we going to explain this to the public? Indeed we are in trouble.”
The suspected officers have made several statements since the incident happened and they all denied knowledge of the escape.
“We are trying to unravel the mystery behind the escape, is it possible for them to say they don’t know the time such a high profile suspect escaped from custody? Why do we have station officers? Why do we have station guards and officers and men at our counters?
The source further hinted that some senior officers at the Garki Police Station had already been queried over the development.
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Moshood Jimoh, confirmed the incident and promised to carry out further investigation over the matter.
The event follows a recent escape of Boko Haram kingpin Kabiru Sokoto, who escaped from Police Custody in Abaji, a suburb of Abuja, which led to the dismissal of Mr Zakari Biu, a Commissioner of Police who was in charge of the case and the sack of Mr Hafiz Ringim as the Inspector General Of Police.