Nine terrorists involved in the murderous May 16th 2003 attacks in Casablanca managed on Monday, April 7th to escape from the Kenitra prison located in north west Morocco. The prison administration has started circulating a blacklist amid an intensive inquiry.
by Kaci Racelma our North African correspondent.
Prison guards noticed their absence on Monday during their routine morning cell checks.
An intensive search operation to find the escapees started right after their disappearance was signalled.
Specialist investigators are currently trying to determine circumstances that lead to the prisoners’ collective evasion from the central prison of Kenitra.
In a communiqué, the Moroccan Ministry of Justice indicated that the escape was noticed on Monday morning by the prison authority and that measures were been taken to find escaped prisoners and determine the brains behind the action”.
The first elements of the inquiry indicates that, the nine escaped prisoners took advantage of the El Fedjr prayers to flee after having managed to dig a tunnel of about twenty meters. The operation took place at around 5 am in the morning. The list of the escapees includes two prisoners sentenced to 20-years jail, six for life and one under capital punishment.
According to another statement issued by an NGO, ANNASSIR, the escaped prisoners are all natives of the city of Casablanca.
In a written document left behind by the escaped convicts, they describe their detention conditions as well as the reasons for their escape.
“Obscure” and “Apocalyptic” conditions are mentioned in the hand written document in which the administration is exonerated from any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile checkpoints, border alerts and other police patrols have been activated in an attempt to catch the escaped convicts.
