Two officers from the detention services and three soldiers from the Armed Forces have been arrested in connection with the death of a Malian man in their custody late on Friday night.

A Malian man who sources named as 32-year-old Mohammed Abdalla, 32, reportedly died while being driven by the officers to the Paola health centre at around midnight on Saturday morning.

Police sources told The Sunday Times a post mortem confirmed that Mr Abdalla had sustained multiple blows to the groin and lower back.

They added he had not died of natural causes and his death may have been caused by several blows. The incident began on Friday afternoon, when Mr Abdalla reportedly turned up at the Floriana health centre requesting medical attention.

It subsequently transpired that he had escaped from the Safi detention centre in August 2009 and had never been apprehended. Staff at the health centre alerted the police, who took Mr Abdalla to the Safi detention centre.

According to a detention services statement, at this point Mr Abdalla began to act aggressively towards guards as well as other detainees, prompting the officers to take him back to the Floriana health centre and book him a psychiatric appointment for the following morning.

But upon his return to Safi, Mr Abdalla reportedly became aggressive once again, to the point where he had to be moved to an individual guardroom.

Mr Abdalla then somehow escaped from the detention centre, although details of how he managed to elude officers’ custody remain sketchy. Officers eventually caught up with him and apprehended him somewhere within Ħal Safi village.

In a statement, the detention services said that Mr Abdalla attacked officers, biting and injuring one. The statement made no reference to Mr Abdalla being assaulted or injured, though it pointed out he had been taken to Paola health centre.

As they approached the health centre, officers noticed that Mr Abdalla was not breathing or showing any signs of life. A doctor posted to the centre examined the man in the detention services van and certified him dead.

In a separate statement, police said they were alerted to the case at approximately 12.45 a.m. yesterday morning and they were questioning five people in connection with the death.

Those five, it was subsequently confirmed, were three AFM soldiers and two detention services officers involved in apprehending Mr Abdalla. Magistrate Miriam Hayman is heading a magisterial inquiry into the matter.

Mr Abdalla’s death comes 15 months after the death of Infeanyi Nwokoye, a 29-year-old Nigerian detainee who also died shortly after a failed attempt to escape from the Safi detention centre (see box).

The Sunday Times contacted the Commander of Detention Services, Lt Col Brian Gatt yesterday, who declined to comment and instead referred questions to the Home Affairs Ministry.

A spokesman for Prime Minister – and interim Home Affairs Minister – Lawrence Gonzi said the Office of the Prime Minister did not comment on ongoing investigations.

Mysterious migrant death last year

In April last year, a 29-year-old Nigerian migrant who had been denied asylum died in hospital some time after he was recaptured following his escape from Safi detention centre. Initially, government sources said Infeanyi Nwokoye was likely to have suffered a heart attack as there were no external signs of violence.

But even though an inquiry board called for disciplinary measures to be taken against a number of officials – pinpointing the Detention Services Commander as the person responsible – the cause of death remains a mystery.

The inquiry board, led by Martin Scicluna, had said some matters could not be concluded until the autopsy results are released by the magisterial inquiry conducted by Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona.

The inquiry found there should be more detailed procedures about the opening and closing of security doors at the centre and that all detention services officials should be regularly trained in first aid. The board recommended that CCTV cameras should be installed in all detention centres and hand-held video cameras should also be available and used whenever there is a serious incident.

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