Death toll rises in Warri prison officials’ attack

Death toll in Wednesday’s attack on the escort team of the Federal Prisons, Warri, Delta State, by yet-to-be-identified gunmen has risen to six.

It was gathered that two inmates of the prisons, who were among nine suspects being taken to Warri High Court for trial, died in the early hours of yesterday.

They were among the injured rushed to Warri General Hospital in the wake of the bloody encounter.

Two of the prisons wardens accompanying the suspects on the ill-fated trip died in the incident on Wednesday while three other prison officials sustained gunshot injuries.

They were at the intensive care unit of the Warri General Hospital at press time.

One of the inmates also died on the spot.

An official of the Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Effurun, Mr. Julius Ogungbemi, also died in the attack.

Ogungbemi was killed by the gunmen, who snatched his Sport Utility Vehicle, SUV, at Effurun, the headquarters of Uvwie Local Government Area of the state, apparently in desperation to evade the security agents.

His SUV was later recovered by the police at Isiokolo, the headquarters of Ethiope East Local Government.

Gunmen attacked the Black Maria conveying nine high profile suspects to court on Wednesday. The gunmen, who apparently had a foreknowledge of the movement, ambushed the team on Esisi Road, a few metres from Okere Road base of the prisons yard and other security agencies such as the police, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force, to free their colleagues, who were arrested in connection with kidnapping and armed robbery cases.

The gunmen escaped with five of their colleagues and service rifles of the prison officials.

Meanwhile, the authorities of the Nigerian Prisons Service, NPS, appeared to have shunned the police over the incident.

It was learnt that the NPS had declined information required by the police in connection with the incident.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Adaba, admitted the uncooperative posture of NPS in a text message to our correspondent yesterday.

In his account of the incident, Adaba said: “Armed men suspected to be kidnappers/ armed robbers ambushed a prison escort conveying prisoners to court with a view to rescuing their colleagues. Some prison officers and prisoners were fatally injured.

“The prison authority is yet to give details of (the) casualty figure and number of prisoners rescued.”

The commissioner, however, hinted that the police had recorded a level of success on the incident.