5 fugitives apprehended on border

THE dash to freedom of six men who escaped from the Windhoek Central Prison early on Monday morning has proven to be short-lived.

One escapee allegedly drowned in the Okavango River and the other five were arrested near Kongola in the Caprivi Region on Tuesday, the Namibian Police announced yesterday. The Police on Tuesday incorrectly reported that two of the escapees, farm massacre suspect Gavin Beukes (26) and rape and murder suspect Deon Engelbrecht (23), had been arrested at Ngoma on the border between Namibia and Botswana on Tuesday morning, it emerged yesterday.Beukes, Engelbrecht and three of their fellow escapees – murder suspect Morris Mazila Sibitwani (29) and Zimbabwean alleged bank robbers Mthulishi Sibanda (27) and Nesias Matole (33) – were in fact arrested in the Sisuwe area near Kongola on Tuesday afternoon, the Namibian Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division reported yesterday.According to a Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Kauna Shikwambi, her division was initially informed on Tuesday that Beukes and Engelbrecht had been arrested at the Ngoma border post.Late in the afternoon, after the end of the normal working day, word then came that in fact five of the escapees had been arrested and another one was suspected to have drowned while trying to cross a river, she said yesterday.Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, Commanding Officer of the Public Relations and Liaison Division, announced yesterday that before the arrests the Police had received information that the escapees were on their way to Katima Mulilo, intending to exit Namibia into Zambia.At Bagani, the escapees allegedly crossed the Okavango River in a canoe which capsized, he related.One of the escapees, Zimbabwean bank robbery suspect Plan Ndebele (31), who is also known as Kholuwane, is alleged to have drowned after the canoe tipped over.Shikwambi added that Ndebele’s body had not been recovered and that a search for his remains was continuing yesterday.She said it was claimed by the five caught escapees that Ndebele had drowned at Bagani.From Bagani, the five other escapees were transported another 200 kilometres eastwards, until they were dropped off in the Bwabwata National Park before the Police checkpoint at Kongola, Amulungu reported.Their plan was to cross the Kwando River as well, but they were spotted by nature conservation officials in the area, who alerted the Police.The five were arrested in the Sisuwe area near Kongola at about 15h00 on Tuesday, Amulungu stated.Sisuwe is on the western bank of the Kwando River in the Bwabwata National Park.According to Shikwambi, the five arrested escapees were being transported back to Windhoek yesterday.The escape in the early hours of Monday is still under investigation, Namibian Prison Service spokesperson Ignatius Mainga said yesterday.Mainga earlier reported that the six had escaped after sawing open their cell window, climbing onto the prison’s roof and moving across the roof, and later cutting through a razor-wire fence and climbing over an electrified fence on the prison premises.Beukes is on trial in the High Court on charges that he had taken part in the murder of eight people at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand between March 4 and 5 2005.Engelbrecht is set to go on trial in the High Court in early February on charges of raping and murdering a 14-year-old boy in Windhoek on December 23 2003.Sibitwani is awaiting judgement in his High Court trial, in which he denied having murdered his girlfriend in a knife attack at Katima Mulilo on April 19 2003.Ndebele, Sibanda and Matole are alleged to have been members of a robber gang that robbed branches of Standard Bank Namibia in Windhoek and at Okahandja and Gobabis in March, April and May this year.The Police on Tuesday incorrectly reported that two of the escapees, farm massacre suspect Gavin Beukes (26) and rape and murder suspect Deon Engelbrecht (23), had been arrested at Ngoma on the border between Namibia and Botswana on Tuesday morning, it emerged yesterday.Beukes, Engelbrecht and three of their fellow escapees – murder suspect Morris Mazila Sibitwani (29) and Zimbabwean alleged bank robbers Mthulishi Sibanda (27) and Nesias Matole (33) – were in fact arrested in the Sisuwe area near Kongola on Tuesday afternoon, the Namibian Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division reported yesterday.According to a Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Kauna Shikwambi, her division was initially informed on Tuesday that Beukes and Engelbrecht had been arrested at the Ngoma border post. Late in the afternoon, after the end of the normal working day, word then came that in fact five of the escapees had been arrested and another one was suspected to have drowned while trying to cross a river, she said yesterday.Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, Commanding Officer of the Public Relations and Liaison Division, announced yesterday that before the arrests the Police had received information that the escapees were on their way to Katima Mulilo, intending to exit Namibia into Zambia.At Bagani, the escapees allegedly crossed the Okavango River in a canoe which capsized, he related.One of the escapees, Zimbabwean bank robbery suspect Plan Ndebele (31), who is also known as Kholuwane, is alleged to have drowned after the canoe tipped over.Shikwambi added that Ndebele’s body had not been recovered and that a search for his remains was continuing yesterday.She said it was claimed by the five caught escapees that Ndebele had drowned at Bagani.From Bagani, the five other escapees were transported another 200 kilometres eastwards, until they were dropped off in the Bwabwata National Park before the Police checkpoint at Kongola, Amulungu reported.Their plan was to cross the Kwando River as well, but they were spotted by nature conservation officials in the area, who alerted the Police.The five were arrested in the Sisuwe area near Kongola at about 15h00 on Tuesday, Amulungu stated.Sisuwe is on the western bank of the Kwando River in the Bwabwata National Park.According to Shikwambi, the five arrested escapees were being transported back to Windhoek yesterday.The escape in the early hours of Monday is still under investigation, Namibian Prison Service spokesperson Ignatius Mainga said yesterday.Mainga earlier reported that the six had escaped after sawing open their cell window, climbing onto the prison’s roof and moving across the roof, and later cutting through a razor-wire fence and climbing over an electrified fence on the prison premises.Beukes is on trial in the High Court on charges that he had taken part in the murder of eight people at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand between March 4 and 5 2005.Engelbrecht is set to go on trial in the High Court in early February on charges of raping and murdering a 14-year-old boy in Windhoek on December 23 2003.Sibitwani is awaiting judgement in his High Court trial, in which he denied having murdered his girlfriend in a knife attack at Katima Mulilo on April 19 2003.Ndebele, Sibanda and Matole are alleged to have been members of a robber gang that robbed branches of Standard Bank Namibia in Windhoek and at Okahandja and Gobabis in March, April and May this year.