Prisoner remains on the run

By Pai Mulitalo Ale 10 February 2016, 12:00AM

The Police hunt for escaped prisoner, Valufitu Fiu Uolilo, who fled the country for Australia last year, is continuing.

The Media Officer of the Ministry of Police, Su’a Muliaga Tiumalu, said they have yet to locate the man who managed to obtain a visa to skip the country while he was supposed to be in jail.

Prisons Spokesperson, Sagaga Galu Frost, also confirmed that they still haven’t received any information on the whereabouts of Uolilo. 

He said the matter is being handled by the Police.

Uolilo was jailed for two years for causing actual bodily harm and being armed with a dangerous weapon.

Last year, Police Commissioner, Fuiava Egon Keil, promised a thorough investigation into how the prisoner ran away from Tafa’igata Prison, boarded a plane and left for Australia.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Keil said the Police are working with the Prisons and Correction Services to track down Uolilo.

 “There’s a lot of moving parts to this particular case,” said Mr. Keil. “To fully investigate we need some other questions answered as well.

 “If we are going to charge anybody, we want to make sure that it is going to stick, so we are doing everything we can on this side to get to the bottom of this.

 “We will get to the bottom of this but it needs time.”

Catching Uolilo and getting him to answer questions from the Police is a key part of the investigation.

 “If we had this individual here, things will move a little bit quicker.

 “But without him here we have to do what we have to do, like communicating with the Attorney General’s office. There’s a lot of legal questions that we have to sort through with the A.G’s Office.”

Asked why it had taken so long for the case to go forward, Mr. Keil said there were many cases that needed to be dealt with, and he could not do everything.

 “We need this individual back so we need Immigration’s help, we need Customs, we need Australia’s help and lots of little agencies in Australia’s help to close this case here.

 “We are working very closely with the Australian Federal Police using our Transnational Crime Unit to affect the arrest of this guy.”

By Pai Mulitalo Ale 10 February 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>