Chaos broke out at the Katutura police station on 16 May after a group of more than 20 prisoners in cell one stormed out of the station’s holding cells, demanding that they be allowed to receive food from relatives, a practice that was outlawed at the start of this week.

Informanté is reliable informed that the inmates decided in unison to refrain from eating food provided at the station since Monday and got an opportunity to storm out of the cell after overpowering an officer during breakfast on Wednesday morning, in the process causing a minor riot, which was quickly suppressed though.
According to the Commanding Officer at the Katutura police station, Chief Inspector Ismael Basson, the move to outlaw prisoners receiving food from relatives is a temporary measure, necessitated by the urgent need to curb the smuggling of illegal commodities such as drugs, mobile phones and knives.
“The smuggling of illicit substances is on the increase in Namibian prisons and is mainly initiated by family members. We stopped the food coming in while we are looking for alternative counter-measures in detecting all prohibited goods,” says Basson.
Basson would not divulge the nature of the counter-measures being devised by the Namibian police to stamp out the smuggling of unwanted goods to prisoners. “Once we are done testing our methods, the media will be informed,” Basson promised.
Katutura police station is currently home to about 150 inmates, many of whom were allegedly screaming and banging on cell bars in support of the 25 rioting prisoners.  No major injuries were reported from the side of the law enforcers or the inmates.