Carlos Cardoso's killer escapes from Mozambique jail

The man behind the murder in 2000 of prominent Mozambican investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso escaped for the third time from custody on Sunday with the help of his prison guards, Interior Minister José Pacheco said.

Anibal dos Santos was serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in the gangland shooting of Cardoso, who was slain while probing a $14-million embezzlement from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique.

“Yes, he escaped from his prison cell today, and this was facilitated by the warders on duty, and I can inform you that all [the warders] on duty have been arrested,” Pacheco told Reuters.

Dos Santos was imprisoned for recruiting the killers who murdered Cardoso and of driving a stolen car used in the assassination. Five other people were also sent to prison for the crime.

He fled to Canada after a previous escape and was returned to Mozambique to stand trial in 2006.

Cardoso was murdered shortly after he said he had uncovered a web of organised crime and political corruption tied to the banking scandal.