The Growing Threat of Terrorist Escapes from Prisons in West Africa: Details

It appears that jihadists in West Africa are determined to free their members from prison. The attack on the well-fortified Kotokal prison in the Tillabéri region of Niger on July 11 followed two failed attempts in 2016 and 2019.

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In this year’s incident, an unknown number of prisoners escaped, including Islamic extremists, among others. No group has publicly claimed responsibility for the latest prison break.

However, sources in northeastern Nigeria, according to the London-based newspaper “Al-Arab,” reported ongoing discussions between ISIS’s West Africa Province and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims regarding the return of ISIS members freed in the attack. This suggests that the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, which operates in the Sahel region, might be responsible, according to the newspaper’s assessment.

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This recent incident follows a similar attack two years ago, when ISIS in West Africa orchestrated the Kuje prison break in Abuja, Nigeria, on July 5, 2022. In March of this year, the Nigerian House of Representatives held a hearing on the whereabouts of those who escaped during that incident, which saw the release of 879 prisoners, including 68 Boko Haram members. About 544 of them remain at large.

Following the Kuje prison break, the Institute for Security Studies reported that a Boko Haram inmate had a mobile phone that he used to communicate with group members outside.

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Ongoing research by the Institute for Security Studies on the Boko Haram conflict and the group’s leadership structures indicates that the escaped detainee is now the head of the Timbuktu Province of ISIS in West Africa, in the Lake Chad basin.

Among those who left ISIS in West Africa, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe interviewed some who participated in the first Boko Haram prison break in Bauchi State in 2010, which resulted in the release of over 100 members.

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They stated that the group spent months gathering intelligence by deploying dozens of young local men around the prison, police stations, and markets, among other places. They blended in by taking up various jobs, which gave them the perfect cover.

Boko Haram has demonstrated its ability to use cross-border networks to transport supplies or fighters, including those who escaped from Kuje prison and reached the Lake Chad islands through Niger.

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If the ongoing discussions between ISIS in West Africa and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims succeed, there may also be attempts to transfer the escapees across borders.