Firimolea, Faiga recaptured after 2 months on the run
By IAN M.KAUKUI
The two prison escapees Frank Firimolea and Dilo Faiga have been recaptured yesterday by the Police at the Burns Creek area, east of Honiara.
Both prisoners were on the run since escaping from the high security Rove Correctional Centre on the evening of Sunday 15th December 2019 along with another prisoner Willie Olo.
The arrest yesterday marked exactly two months on the run for both Firimolea and Faiga.
Olo was the first to be recaptured in the early hours of 7th January 2020, at the Betikama LDA area in East Honiara.
Speaking to this paper yesterday, an eye witness Tony Kingsley said the recapturing of both prison escapees took place around 11:00am yesterday at the main entry junction to the Burns Creek market.
Kingley said the two were believed to be based at Belaha around Tenaru area and decided to visit one of their relatives at Burns Creek when they were nabbed.
“They were on their way along the Burns Creek main road when they were confronted by the Police Response Team (PRT),” he said.
He said it was a shock to people around the vicinity when the incident occurred as the PRT officers pulled them into the police vehicle and took them away.
The Police Media also confirmed the occurrence in a Media statement yesterday.
Acting Commissioner Magau said, PRT have recaptured the two prison escapees’ based on intelligence gathering.
“The two escapees now under police custody awaiting further dealings and will return to Rove Correctional Centre soon.”
“PRT have intercepted a RAV4 and identify the two escapees. There were other three people inside the same RAV4 where they were under police care for further questioning.”
Correctional centre authorities earlier stated the three escaped prisoners have strategically planned their mission.
The trio scaled the high-security Rove Correctional Centre between 6pm and 9pm on December 15th 2019.
Following the escape of the three, Police has set up a taskforce known as the ‘Operation Hunt –Man’ to hunt down the three escapees.
The warning given out to the public of the two escapees will also be lifted as the two are now recaptured.
Acting Police Chief Mostyn Mangau on Thursday said he appreciated the work of all police officers engaged in Operation Hunt-Man as the hunt for the two prison escapees is a long and tiring work.
Mangau said officers from all units from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) are involved in this operation.
He said the operation started on 15 December 2019, the same day the three escapees Frank Firimolea, Dilo Faiga and convicted prisoner Willie Olo escaped from the Correctional facility at Rove.
Meanwhile, Mr Mangau yesterday thanked the local communities for their support towards the police in recapturing the two escapees and also would like to thank police officers who involved in the operation to recapture these two escapees.