Tamale, Jan. 18, GNA - Johnson Kombia, alias "Boga", who escaped from prison custody in Tamale at about 0400 hours last Friday, has called the cell phone of the Upper East Regional Police Commander and threatened to kill him. This threat has heightened fears among the security personnel, especially the Police Command in Northern and Upper East Regions, and put them on high alert.

The Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutuge Awuni, disclosed these in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale on Monday. He said the circumstances surrounding the escape of Johnson Kombia were mysterious and that investigations were still ongoing.

ACP Awuni called for a probe into the incident, saying it was unacceptable for "Boga" 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 also drop but there is none of these hence the need for the probe to unearth the truth", said the Commander. ACP Awuni said preliminary investigations gathered by the police indicated that Johnson Kombia was still around Tamale and the police had intensified efforts to re-arrest him. He said the police have a reward of GHc2,000 for anyone with information leading to Kombia's arrest.

Until Kombia's escape, he was serving a five-year sentence at the Tamale Prisons for a similar previous escape in 2005, while he was awaiting trial for murder and robbery. He was also alleged to have been threatening people's lives and robbing in and around Nalerigu, Gambaga, Nakpanduri and Bunkrugu, and once ambushed and killed two soldiers. All efforts to speak to the Northern Regional Prisons Command on the subject proved futile.