Authorities blame each other for gang leader’s escape

The Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) denied responsibility for the escape of a convicted gang leader from house arrest in Medellin, and blamed prison authority INPEC.

“If prisoners escape, that isn’t the prosecutor general’s problem, but specifically INPEC’s,” said Prosecutor General Guillermo Mendoza Diago.

Diago’s statement came after Colombia’s national prison authority (INPEC) on Monday denied responsibility for the incident. INPEC said it had warned the Medellin prosecutor who sentenced Kener to house arrest that the paramilitary leader should be placed in a maximum security facility.

Diago added that Kener had been examined by doctors and subjected to various tests, and was found to be in a bad medical condition.

It was under the PG office’s authority that Daniel Alejandro Serna, alias “Kener,” was sentenced to house arrest in his Medellin home because he reportedly suffered from intestine and kidney problems.

Kener escaped Sunday night after men dressed in INPEC uniforms arrived at his house and claimed they were transferring him to another facility. Authorities are offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

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