A convict, Johnson Kombia, alias “Burger”, who escaped from prison custody in the Tamale Central Prison over the weekend, has threatened to kill the Upper East Regional Police Commander.
This threat has heightened fears among the security personnel, especially the Police Command in the Northern and Upper East Regions, and put them on high alert.
Speaking to Citi Eyewitness News on Monday January 18, the Upper East Regional Police Commander ACP Bright Oduro confirmed that he received phone calls on his private number from Johnson Kombia, the jail breaker, that he was going to kill him in three days.
“I received a call about 4pm yesterday on my private phone…I enquired who was on the line but he kept saying that he was burger and he had come out and that he was out to kill me, he said that he had given me three days…he will start killing people from Bunkrugu to Bolga where he was arrested on the 24 of August last year”. ACP Bright Oduro recounted.
ACP Bright Oduro added that Burger revealed to him that he was not out to kill only him but all other police officers who aided in his arrest and prosecution.
“He indeed issued threats and said that he was out there to kill, not me alone but all other officers who have been involved in one way or the other in his arrest and prosecution”.
The 32 year old notorious criminal, was serving a five-year jail term in the Tamale Central Prisons for breaking jail on two occasions and was also being tried for robbery.
He was also alleged to have been threatening people's lives around Nalerigu, Gambaga, Nakpanduri and Bunkrugu, and once ambushed and killed two soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Police Commander, ACP Angwubutuge Awuni, in an interview with Citi FM on Monday January 18, said the circumstances surrounding the escape of Johnson Kombia are mysterious and added that investigations are being conducted into the escape of ‘Burger’ to ascertain how he managed to escape.
ACP Awuni said he had earlier recommended that burger be transferred to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons because he suspected that the Tamale Prison was weak for him.
He added that he had called for a probe into the incident, saying it was unacceptable for “Burger” to escape under the watch of two prisons officials detailed to guard him, only for him to scale over the prisons wall without anybody's notice.
“The walls of the prisons have been fenced with sharp metals and if he scaled over the wall, there would have been a cut, and blood would have dropped, but there is none of these hence the need for the probe to unearth the truth”, said the Commander.
ACP Awuni said investigations gathered so far by the police indicated that the dangerous criminal was still around Tamale and the police had intensified efforts to track him down.
He added that the police have a reward of GH¢ 2,000 for anyone with information leading to Johnson Kombia’s arrest.
