Six suspects escape from city police cells

Police in Nairobi have launched a manhunt for six suspects who escaped from police cells on Tuesday.

Some of the offenders had tested positive for Covid-19. They escaped from Kayole Police Station.

The prisoners, who were being held at the station for serious offences including defilement and robbery with violence, escaped from police cells by cutting metal grills at an open area where prisoners sunbathe.

Five of the suspects had been at the police cells since June 30 when they were remanded by the courts, according to police reports.

They were yet to be transferred to Kamiti and Industrial Area remand prisons after they tested positive for coronavirus.

Another suspect was remanded at the police station on June 24 after he denied allegations of defilement.

Yesterday, senior police commanders, among them Njiru-Kayole police chief Isaac Thuranira, toured the police cells for a fact finding mission.

It is unclear what the criminals used to cut the metal grills and how the object found its way into the cells.

Thuranira declined to comment on the escape.