The Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi, has confirmed the missing of about 600 inmates from the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, as 300 inmates were retrieved from bushes.
Speaking with newsmen, in Abuja, Magashi said they suspect the attack was carried out by the Boko-Haram terrorist sect.
He said, “They attempted the initial entry with a very high explosive, but they were unsuccessful”.
According to him, after the unsuccessful first attempt, then they attacked another section of the wall with even higher grade explosive which brought the wall down.
He explained that the forces on the ground did everything they could to repel them but the number of the terrorists they came with was overwhelming which they were not able to fight against.
“The incident took about 30 minutes, before the reinforcements arrived”.
The Minister gave the figure of the inmates at about 994 inmates in the prison.
“We understand, the attackers were Boko Haram, and they came specifically to get their co-conspirators freed”, he added.
He lamented that majority of the terrorists freed from the prison are now in the general population.
“But many of them have returned, they have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they were hiding”, The Minister added.