Haiti captures kidnapper behind prison break
Police in Haiti recapture son of prominent businessman who escaped during mass breakout believed staged for him.
Police have recaptured 19 fugitives, including an alleged kidnapper who escaped from custody during a mass breakout at a prison outside the Haitian capital.
Clifford Brandt, the son of a prominent Haitian businessman, and at least two of his associates were captured at a border area with the help of Dominican police and around 50 Haitian officers, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told news agency AFP.
“The government will not rest until every single one is in custody,” the prime minister said.
Sunday’s attack on the Haitian prison in Croix-des-Bouquets led to the escape of 329 inmates. At least two guards suffered bullet wounds during the breakout.
Authorities believe the attack was intended to free Brandt.
Police were searching the nation for the escaped prisoners and had asked for help from Interpol, authorities in the neighbouring Dominican Republic and nearby Jamaica because some of the men might have fled abroad, National Police Chief Godson Orleus said at a news conference in Port-au-Prince on Monday.
A spokesman for Haiti’s national police said steps would be taken to reinforce security in prisons, which would be equipped with cameras.
“The most important prisoners will also wear electronic bracelets with GPS,” he said.
The prison was built in 2012 with Canadian financial aid to replace a prison devastated by the country’s 2010 earthquake.