Tamale, Jan. 25, GNA - The Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service has set up a committee that is currently investigating the circumstances that led to the escape of Johnson Kombian from the Tamale Prisons.

The Northern Regional Commander of Prisons for Tamale, Deputy Direct= or of Prisons (DDP), Mr Philip Laari, said the officers found culpable could=

face dismissal, reduction in rank and interdiction. Thirteen officers who were on duty on the day of the escape of Kombi= an are being investigated by the six-member committee. Mr Laari said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale o= n Monday that the circumstances that led to the escape of Kombian alias "Bo= ga" were mysterious and therefore necessitated the probe. He said the officers were also being investigated by the Northern Regional Police Command as well as the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and would soon come out with their findings.

Mr Laari expressed dissatisfaction about the structural defects of t= he Tamale Prisons saying it was old and weak and prone to breakage leading t= o the escape of prisoners, particularly from the reform center and called f= or its rehabilitation. He also appealed to the media to be consistent in their reportage on=

the Kombian issue to assist the security service to re-arrest him. He said a cash reward of GH¢2000.00 would be given to anyone with information leading to his arrest.

The Tamale Prisons currently contains 286 inmates including nine females with no juveniles.

Johnson Kombian is 35 years and a native of Nakpanduri in the Northe= rn Region. He escaped from the Tamale Prisons on Friday, January 15 this yea= r. He had escaped twice from the Tamale Prisons, twice from Togo and on= ce from the Gambaga Prisons and is alleged to have been terrorizing resident= s of Gambaga, Nalerigu and Nakpanduri. Until his escape, he was serving a five-year jail sentence for a previous escape while he was awaiting trial for robbery and attempted murder.