Prison attack: Controller assures Oko residents of safety

The Controller of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Edo State command, Mr Joseph Usendiah, has assured residents living around the Oko Minimum Security prison in Benin of full protection of their lives and property.

Usendiah gave the assurance during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Sunday.

The Controller, who was reacting to a recent intelligence report about a plan to attack the prison located at Oko, in the Oredo Local Government Area, said that there was no cause for alarm.

Usendiah, who spoke through Mr Aminu Suleman, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) confirmed that an intelligence report was actually received from the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Danmallam Abubakar of some suspects plotting to attack the prison.

Consequently, the state Controller of Prisons said that he had scaled up the security surveillance in and around the prison.

He said that more regular and armed prisons personnel had been deployed, adding that other security agencies, including the police, have also deployed their men and officers around the facility, to forestall any form of security breach.

“The Oko Prison facilities are therefore secure while other security actions are still ongoing,’’ he explained.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, has confirmed the arrest of some suspects plotting to attack the prison with explosives.

He did not give further details but NAN gathered from police sources that the arrested suspects were planning to bomb the Oko Minimum Security Prison to free some kidnappers being remanded there.

According to the sources, a Police Special Squad acting on the intelligence report immediately carried out a “pre-emptive arrest’’ to nip the plan in the bud and take the suspects into custody.

NAN further learnt that sophisticated weapons were recovered from the suspects, who planned to kill the prison security operatives on duty and then set their men free. (NAN)