Authorities in Ghana are searching for a Chinese national who escaped from prison after feigning an illness. According to Citi News, the fugitive, who was convicted of theft and other serious offenses, was being held at the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison at the time of his escape.
The escapee was sentenced to a year in prison for the aforementioned offenses after he was arrested in the city of Tema. He was reportedly taken to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the capital, Accra, for medical care after he allegedly pretended to be sick.
The West African nation’s prison service has since interdicted the officer who escorted him to the hospital. On Monday, an officer with the prison service informed the news outlet that they had received tips that could help them apprehend the escapee.
In 2022, Face2Face Africa similarly reported that a Chinese national serving a 15-year prison sentence in Namibia for smuggling rhinoceros horns had escaped from custody. The escapee, identified as Wang Hui, was an inmate at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.
Hui was convicted after he was found guilty of illegally exporting controlled wildlife products, per VOA.
Authorities arrested the Chinese national and three of his compatriots at the Hosea Kutako Airport in 2014 after they found rhino horns and leopard skin in their possession. The wildlife products were said to be valued at millions on the black market. The four men were subsequently convicted in 2016.
