In a statement on Facebook, the police said that one of the search teams of the General Directorate of National Security arrested, Sunday, in Nouakchott, Mohamed T. Known as Abu Osama, noting that he “orchestrated the escape of 4 prisoners convicted of terrorist cases from the central prison in Nouakchott on the evening of March 5, 2023.”
The authorities did not give more details about this man, but stated that he will be brought to justice after the investigation is over.
Five days after their escape, the authorities indicated that three of the fugitives had been killed, including Salek Ould Cheikh, whom the authorities considered particularly dangerous, while the fourth was captured alive.
Two guards were killed during the escape of these prisoners, while a security officer was killed while trying to arrest them.
Who is the traveler born Sheikh
Ould Cheikh was sentenced to death in 2011 in connection with the attempt to assassinate President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the targeting of the French embassy. Although it has not been abolished, Mauritania has not implemented the death penalty since 1987.
Salek Ould Cheikh previously escaped from prison in December 2015 before being arrested in Guinea-Bissau and returned to Mauritania three weeks later.
The United States, which is involved in the anti-terrorist operation in the Sahel region, considers Salek Ould Cheikh to be one of the organizers of the assassination of four French tourists in southeastern Mauritania in 2007.
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