Armed men on Thursday stormed the Plateau High Court in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area and whisked away four kidnap and robbery suspects who were to be arraigned before the court.
The freed suspects, identified as Umar Adamu, Bashir Mohammed, Musa Usman and Abdul Haruna, were to appear before Justice Nanpon Dadi when the incident occurred.
A Prosecutor of the Plateau Ministry of Justice, who preferred anonymity, said the armed men numbering five, stormed the court premises about 9.30am shooting in the air. “The suspects were to appear before Justice Nanpon Dadi but the judge was said to be away on an appeal panel in Jos. So parties in the matter decided to take a new date.
While we were taking a date, the prison van came into the premises with the suspects, shortly after, the gunmen, in a commando manner, started shooting sporadically. They over-powered the prison officials and everyone took to their heels, after which the gunmen took the suspects away.
“The prison officials immediately went to the Barkin Ladi police station for reinforcement, unfortunately the situation could not be salvaged as they had disappeared into the bush”.
The state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Jacob Longden, said the ministry was aware of the development and had reported the matter to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Permanent Secretary and security agencies in the state.
Operatives of the Security Task Force (STF) were already on the trail of the perpetrators and suspects, according to sources.
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