Interior minister suspends 3 officers for negligence after Mahalla jail break

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim ordered the suspension of a police officer, a second low-ranking officer and a secret informant pending investigations into the escape of 16 detainees from a Mahalla police station on Friday, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

Early in the morning, the detainees escaped from a cell holding 75 prisoners. The suspended police personnel allegedly violated security regulations by leaving the cell’s back door open in order to remove trash cans. The 16 detainees then reportedly set their mattresses on fire, threw hot water at the officers and fled the cell.

Interrogations showed that the officers' negligence facilitated the escape, security sources told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY). It is not yet known who permitted the detainees to keep an electric water kettle in the cell, which is also against prison regulations.

Gharbiya Security Directorate head Major General Osama Bedair formed search parties to apprehend the inmates who escaped. Bedair said that as of early Friday evening, five of the detainees had been taken back into custody. Police forces are still searching for the 10 other detainees.

Ministry officials issued a statement threatening the fugitives that they would “not spend this night anywhere but inside the cell they escaped from.”