Niger’s ruling junta said late Thursday it had thwarted an overnight attempt by deposed President Mohamed Bazoum to escape detention with his family nearly three months after he was detained in the wake of a military coup. In a communique, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said that Bazoum tried to reach a waiting vehicle at around 3 a.m. that was to take him to the outskirts of the capital, Niamey, along with his family, two cooks and his security personnel.

From there, they were to be flown to Nigeria aboard “two helicopters belonging to a foreign power,” Abdramane said.