Oyo jailbreak: Explosive left behind by attackers detonated by police, says prisons spokesman

The Nigeria Correctional Service says the Nigeria Police Force has detonated an explosive left behind by persons who attacked the Abolongo medium custodial centre in Oyo town, Oyo state.

The facility was attacked by gunmen on Friday, with more than 300 inmates still missing as of Sunday.

A personnel of the Oyo state security network agency, codenamed Amotekun, died in the attack while an inmate of the facility was killed while trying to escape from the prison.

Two security operatives at the facility — a military officer attached to the Oyo state joint security anti-crime patrol team, also known as ‘Operation Burst’, and another Amotekun operative — sustained injuries.

On Tuesday afternoon, there were reports of another explosion around the facility.

However, Olanrewaju Anjorin, Oyo NCS spokesman, told TheCable that there was a detonation exercise at the centre.

He said the exercise took place around 2pm on Tuesday.

“One of the explosives left behind by the attackers was safely detonated by bomb control unit of the Nigeria police today,” he said.

“There is no cause for alarm. The facility is firmly under government control and there is no new attack on the facility.”