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DAKAR — A Senegalese prisoner notorious for staging daring jailbreaks has mounted another escape from a high-security facility in the capital Dakar, a prison official said on Monday.
Dubbed the “Escape Ace,” Baye Modou Fall slipped out of a penitentiary in the north of the seaside city on Saturday night and is still at large, according to prison spokesperson Mbaye Sarr.
Police in the poor West African country have opened an investigation, Sarr added.
Fall, who is also nicknamed the “boy genie,” has been arrested several times for crimes including armed robbery and association with criminals, according to local press reports.
Senegalese media say the 32-year-old has already escaped from prison about 10 times.
On Monday, the fugitive said in a recorded statement broadcast on a private television channel that he was still in Senegal.
He explained that he broke out of jail “not because I am bandit” but because of the slow pace of his trial, adding that he would show up for his court date once it is scheduled.
Rights groups regularly criticize the widespread use of pretrial detention in Senegal, which contributes to overcrowding in prisons.
In 2019, the government put forward a plan to use electronic monitoring tags as a substitute for pretrial detention, but it has yet to be implemented.