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Escaped Chinese death row inmate found dead
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ai Changpan, a Chinese death row inmate who had been at large for a month following his escape from the Tangerang penitentiary in Banten, was found dead in a factory in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday.
The Jakarta Police have declared his death a suicide.
“We’ve concluded that [the convict] died by suicide,” Jakarta Police spokesperson Yusri Yunus said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.
He said the police were collecting evidence and witness statements to further investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.
Cai’s body was found by a security officer in a tire factory in Jasinga district on Saturday morning.
According to the officer, the convict had often spent nights at the factory. The officer claimed that Cai had threatened him into silence, warning him against tipping off authorities regarding his whereabouts, Yusri said.
Changpan was declared guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in 2017. He first escaped in January 2017 from a Jakarta police detention center by breaking a hole in a bathroom wall, but was captured three days later. In September this year, Changpan escaped again from the Tangerang penitentiary in Banten via a tunnel he had been digging for months inside his block.
According to the police’s investigation, the escapee allegedly took tools that had been used in the construction of a prison kitchen to dig the tunnel out of his cell. Tangerang Police chief Sugeng Hariyanto previously said that Cai’s cellmate had declined his invitation to escape with him.
Two prison officers were suspended following Cai’s escape.
Immediately after escaping, Cai visited his wife and children in Cilaku village in Bogor regency, West Java, where he used to run a tire recycling business that is now managed by his wife with the help of several employees. (rfa)
