Police re-arrest Lira's notorious serial criminal Ajep in Mbale

Joseph Omoo alias Ajep, Lira's most wanted and self-confessed serial criminal has been re-arrested. Ajep was picked up from Mbale over the weekend by a team of Police Flying Squad operatives from Kampala and Lira.

Robert Abak, the Lira Resident District Commissioner, says Ajep was picked up together with his three accomplices including his girlfriend. Police identifies the three other suspects as Emma Atim, Daniel Owiny and Ayub Ateka.

The suspects were briefly held at Mbale Central Police Station before they were driven to Lira Central Police Station where they are being held. Ajep escaped from custody on Friday last week following his admission at Lira Regional Referral Hospital for multi-drug TB treatment.

Two prison warders who were deployed to guard him in the TB ward in the hospital were arrested and remanded for aiding the inmate to escape. The two warders are Corporal Denis Ogweng and Corporal Patrick Buhsendish, both attached to Lira Central Government Prison.

Police suspected foul play in the way the inmate escaped since they found his handcuffs they have used to tie him on the bed open. Shortly after his escape, Ajep made telephone calls to several radio stations in Lira town implicating police for aiding his escape.

Ajep also boasted that he couldn't be rearrested since he had paid the officers Shillings 9.7 million to aid him escape, a claim police have vehemently denied. Ajep faces the charges of escaping from jail, simple and aggravated robbery. He is accused of being the mastermind of several robberies and murder of several boda boda cyclists in Lira Town.

-URN