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219 inmates escape from prison, acquire weapons in Uganda

Thursday, 17 September 2020 10:01 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 17 September 2020 10:01 AM ]

The file photo shows Ugandan police forces.

More than 200 prisoners have escaped from a prison in northeast Uganda, officials say, bringing a local town to a standstill while Ugandan security forces try to track them down.

The mass jailbreak occurred at a detention facility built on the foothills of Mount Moroto, on the edge of Moroto Town, on Wednesday, when 219 inmates escaped and broke into an armory before heading for remote wilderness in the country’s northeast, officials said.

The escapees made off with at least 15 guns and some ammunition, and according to a military spokeswoman, at least three people, a soldier and two of the fleeing inmates were killed in a fire fight, which brought business in the town to a standstill.

She described the inmates “hardcore” criminals who had been placed behind bars mainly for stealing cattle in the restive region, warning that they might raid local homes for clothes since they had disposed of their distinctive yellow prison uniforms.

Moroto is the biggest town in the Karamoja sub-region, where cattle theft and gun violence are relatively commonplace.

Back in the early 2000s, a government disarmament program took most of the guns out of the hands of civilians, but sporadic clashes still occur among different communities in Karamoja.

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