Specialised tactical response correctional services officers stormed the prison cell of suspected Nigerian terrorist and rebel leader Henry Okah and seized eight cellphones and chargers, a map and documents in a raid spurred by alleged threats of terror attacks in his home country.
Okah, on trial in South Africa for allegedly organising two deadly bomb blasts in Nigeria, was hauled from his cell at the Johannesburg Correctional Centre hours after lockdown on Tuesday night.
The October bombings, which Okah allegedly organised from South Africa, killed 12 people.
Okah, due to appear in court in April, is the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend).
The raid came after the South African government was said to have been alerted by its Nigerian counterpart to terror threats alleged to have been made by Okah from his cell.
Okah - who South African and Nigerian authorities believe to still be an active member of Mend – is suspected of recently making the threats to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and several of his cabinet ministers by cellphone.
A well-placed source in the Correctional Services Department yesterday said the items recovered posed a major security threat.
“It is clear this man is powerful and extremely dangerous.
“Information in our possession indicates that he allegedly made several threatening phone calls to the Nigerian president.
“In these phone calls, which we believe he made from the prepaid cellphones we seized, he is alleged to have verbally abused several senior Nigerian government officials, including the president.
“He is also believed to have told them about further terror attacks Mend is believed to have been planning on carrying out,” said a source.
Tactical reaction officers also seized documents with cellphone numbers, believed to be those of Nigerian government ministers and the president.
“Also among the items seized was a detailed map of what is thought to be the court where he is to appear in April. We believe that this was to be used to aid him in a possible escape.”
Of grave concern was the section of the prison in which Okah was being held, the source said.
“Information indicates that he should have been held in A-Max, the maximum security section, not B-Max, which keeps prisoners such as policemen convicted of crimes away from the general prison population who might endanger their lives.
“Investigations are under way to establish how he ended up in this section, where it is easy to smuggle in weapons and contraband such as cellphones, chargers and the documents needed to carry out crimes, which we suspect him of doing.
“The investigation will look at several warders believed to have benefited substantially from supplying Okah with the contraband.”
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela confirmed the search and the recoveries. Correctional Services Department spokesman Manelisi Wolela said an internal investigation will determine how Okah came into possession of the prohibited items. Okah’s attorney, Rudi Krause, failed to respond to queries. - Pretoria News