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Drug convicts transferred from Tangerang prison following escape
Around 60 drug convicts serving long prison terms and life imprisonment, as well as those on death row, were transferred to super maximum security prisons following the escape of Chinese drug convict Cai Changpan from the Tangerang penitentiary.
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Illustration of a man in prison. (Shutterstock/Skyward Kick Productions)
T
he Law and Human Rights Ministry transferred dozens of drug convicts from the Tangerang penitentiary in Banten to other super maximum security prisons on Tuesday, following the escape of Chinese drug convict Cai Changpan last week.
The spokesperson for the ministry's Corrections Directorate General, Rika Aprianti, said in a statement that the transferred inmates were those serving long prison terms and life imprisonment as well as prisoners on death row.
Thirty drug convicts were moved to the Batu penitentiary on Nusa Kambangan Island in Cilacap regency, Central Java. Meanwhile, some 30 other inmates, two of whom were convicted for violating general crimes, were transferred to Cilegon penitentiary in Banten.
“This is the manifestation of our firm commitment to fighting drugs,” said Rika.
Read also: Prison escapee dug tunnel for six months using stolen tools, police say
She added the ministry had previously transferred around 300 drug convicts to Nusakambangan prison island.
Cai, a Chinese national who also goes by the name of Cai Ji Fan, escaped from the Tangerang penitentiary on Sept. 14 at around 2:30 a.m. through a self-dug tunnel that was connected to a sewer outside the prison walls.
The police suspected that the inmate dug the tunnel using stolen construction tools from the prison kitchen.
Authorities formed a team to investigate the case and recapture the escaped convict, who was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in 2017.
