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Police say 100 inmates fled Labuhan Ruku prison, not 30
A police official said the estimated number of Labuhan Ruku penitentiary escapees was around 100, not 30 as previously reported
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A police official said the estimated number of Labuhan Ruku penitentiary escapees was around 100, not 30 as previously reported.
'We are still verifying the number of the escaped inmates,' Batubara police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Japerson Parningotan Sinaga told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Japerson said that most of the escaped prisoners were drugs convicts, adding that the police had intensified its search in a number of areas to recapture the escapees.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Syarief Gunawan said that as of Tuesday 31 escapees had been recaptured.
According to the latest data from the police, as many as 167 out of the 500 prisoners deemed to be instigators in the prison riot that allowed the detainees to escape had been transferred to various jails throughout North Sumatra province.
Dozens of prisoners being transferred resisted relocation, saying that the new location was very far away, for example Siborongborong and Sibolga penitentiaries in North and Central Tapanuli regencies respectively.
Thousands of inmates set fire to the Labuhan Ruku prison in Talawi district, Batubara regency, on Sunday, following violent conflicts with prison guards motivated by disappointment from the prisoners over not receiving Independence Day remissions.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry granted Independence Day remissions to 67,349 inmates across Indonesia, which allowed 2,197 to walk free. (hrl/dic)
