the essential
A drunken police officer opened the cells of a Zambian prison on New Year's Eve, freeing thirteen suspected criminals. He assured them that they were free to leave.
Thirteen suspected criminals held in a Zambian prison have been free since their cell was opened on New Year's Eve by a drunken police officer who assured them they were free to leave, police said Friday.
The police officer, “in a state of intoxication, forcibly took the keys” from a colleague and “unlocked the doors of the cells of men and women, ordering them to leave, claiming that they were free to go out for the New Year,” according to a police statement.
Suspects “pursued for serious crimes”
Of the fifteen prisoners concerned, 13 of them rushed out of their cells on the morning of December 31.
“The suspects remain fugitives,” police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga told AFP on Friday.
Among them are “suspects being prosecuted for serious crimes” and “the fact of having released them could pose a significant risk to public security”, he added.
The detective was arrested shortly after his initiative.
