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aw enforcement authorities in Papua have deployed hundreds of personnel to hunt down 13 inmates that escaped from Abepura penitentiary in the provincial capital of Jayapura on Friday.

The massive manhunt was initiated because some of the fugitives are considered extremely dangerous due to their affiliation with a local separatist group.

In a phone interview with The Jakarta Post on Saturday, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw said the manhunt involved some 200 personnel from the police'€™s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit with support from local Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel.

Preliminary reports, he said, suggested that the fugitives had not left Jayapura at least in the first 24 hours after their escape.

'€œWe have detected their [past] whereabouts. During our search yesterday [Friday], we found traces of food and areca nuts believed to have been eaten by the fugitives,'€ he said.

Paulus added that police and military personnel had also increased surveillance along the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) in Skouw-Wutung, located some 40 kilometers east of Jayapura, to foil any attempt by the fugitives to enter the neighboring country.

'€œAccording to our experience, inmates escaping from Abepura tend to try and reach PNG. Should they manage to do so, this would make it difficult for us to hunt them down,'€ he said.

The 13 inmates escaped from the prison through the main door during visiting hours scheduled from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Before the escape, three inmates asked for permission to see the section head.

As they were about to enter the relevant room, however, two of them turned another way to the visitors'€™ room.

When an officer tried to stop them, one of the inmates threatened him with a sharp weapon before calling out other inmates.

The inmates then simultaneously broke through their doors within the facility and escaped through the main door.

'€œThey seemed to have planned the escape,'€ the prison'€™s chief warden, Bagus Kurniawan, said.

Three of the fugitives '€” Usmin Telenggen, Kartu Kuning and Fredy Muyak '€” are members of the separatist group Free Papua Movement (OPM).

The three have been sentenced for life for their involvement in an armed attack on a police precinct in Papua'€™s Lanny Jaya regency.

The 2012 attack left three police officers dead.

All of the remaining 10 fugitives, meanwhile, were serving prison sentences of at least 18 months for various crimes, including rape, theft, firearm possession and collective assault.

 '€œThese fugitives can kill anyone, including ordinary people, using guns or sharp weapons. They are extremely dangerous,'€ Paulus said.

Paulus also called on other correctional facilities in Papua that house inmates convicted for serious crimes, like murder, to step up security precautions to avoid a similar jailbreak from happening.

'€œWe are ready to help secure [the facilities] should their management ask us to do so,'€ he added.

In May 2010, 18 inmates fled from Abepura prison following a protest involving prison guards. The next month, 26 other inmates also managed to get out of the facility.

Bagus, meanwhile, argued that prison management had been struggling to maintain security at the facility, which currently accommodates 405 inmates, due to a lack of staff.

'€œIn every work shift, our security team only consists of five people, much fewer than the ideal number of 10,'€ he said.
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