Fugitive escapes in Italy

Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday June 14, 2017 17:35

The fugitive is alleged to have stolen the money while employed as a Managing Director at BelaBela at Mamashia, and only resurfaced recently in Italy.

Sources close to the development said the fugitive fled from the Italian police before he could be handed to the Botswana Police officers who went to accompany him on his extradition.

“The fugitive was to arrive on May 31, 2017 but they could not leave Italy due to technical problems. They had not gotten clearance, which they only got on June 1. The plan was to leave on Friday the same week and arrive on Saturday 3 June. The Italians checked in the fugitive at the airport as planned. Our officers became suspicious as they were just told the fugitive was checked in, but they had not seen him. Their suspicions later came to life as it came to their attention that the fugitive had escaped,” a source said.

Contacted for comment, Police spokesperson Witness Bosija confirmed awareness of the case, though he would not discuss it. “Matters of extradition are dealt with by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) our officers take orders from them to accompany the extradited fugitive. For any information on the matter contact the custodians being the DPP,” he said.

DPP head, Abraham Keetshabe would not comment, as he was not familiar with the details of the case. He however said he was aware that there was an extradition that he was told would take place.