Toilet break escape: Manhunt for Al-Qaeda suspect
April 4, 2008, Straits Times
NOUAKCHOTT (MAURITANIA) - A MANHUNT is on for an Al-Qaeda suspect accused of murder who bolted after telling his guards he needed a toilet break.
Sidi Ould Sidna had just finished a round of questioning at a Mauritanian courthouse on Wednesday when he asked to use the toilet.
A witness said that the guards allowed him to go into the stall by himself and did not guard the doorway.
When he emerged, Sidna ran for the courthouse's exit, losing himself in the crowd outside. He was wearing civilian clothes, allowing him to blend in quickly.
Deputy prosecutor Moustapha Ould Said confirmed that Sidna had escaped, saying 'the fugitive was able to divert the attention of the policeman who was guarding him'.
The prosecutor declined to explain how this happened, but a witness, Mr Abdallahi Fall, said that he saw the 26-year-old ask for permission to go to the toilet.
Then he saw the policeman who was guarding the doorway leave to approach a group of his friends. 'It was when Ould Sidna came out of the bathroom and realised the policeman was not in front of the door that he decided to flee,' said Mr Fall, who was at the courthouse to attend to a legal matter.
Once on the street, the suspect was able to quickly lose himself in the crowd gathered nearby to await the arrival of the Emir of Qatar. Hours after the escape, prosecutors announced that the policeman who was guarding the fugitive had been arrested, as had another employee of the courthouse and two of the fugitive's sisters.
The sisters had attended the interrogation session and are believed to have helped their brother escape, said the deputy prosecutor.
The country's top prosecutor announced a big reward for anyone with information leading to Sidna's capture.
Sidna was one of two men arrested in January in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau in connection with the brutal slaying of four French tourists on Dec 24. The duo were extradited to Mauritania to face charges of murder and terrorism.
The tourists were gunned down along a Mauritanian highway where they had stopped to have a picnic.
Mauritanian officials launched a manhunt, saying the men behind the attack are linked to an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terror cell headquartered in neighbouring Algeria.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This seems to be part of their strategy.. escaping from toilets. -________-"
all toilets will have cameras from now on![]()
Originally posted by MyPillowTalks:all toilets will have cameras from now on
Wah! Sibei no privacy leh like that.
They should be chained to the toilet bowl man.. until the guards come back!