Mauritania: terrorist on the loose arrested in Guinea

Notorious Mauritanian terrorist Saleck Ould Cheikh who was on a run was arrested on Tuesday in Guinea Conakry three weeks after his jailbreak.

Saleck Ould Cheikh was arrested near the border between Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau at Kalounka-magasin dam, near the town of Boké.

Saleck Ould Cheikh broke out of Nouakchott detention centre on December 31. He had been sentenced to death penalty following a foiled suicide attack in 2011 that was aimed at killing the Mauritanian President. Saleck Ould Cheikh, Mauritanian-born in 1984 is member of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM.)

According to press reports, the escaped convict was arrested along with another Mauritanian and two Bissau Guineans.

Reports add that the arrest was made possible thanks to tipoffs by members of the Guinean drivers’ union who spotted two Mauritanians armed with machine gun pistols en route to Guinea Conakry and drove them to a security force station.

Guinea and Mauritania are working on the extradition modalities of the Mauritanian convicts.