September 15, 2011
Denpasar. Police have recaptured five of six detainees who escaped from the Kuta Police’s detention center early on Thursday, in the third breakout there in a year.
A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the men, who were being held on drugs and fraud charges, broke through the wall of the toilet adjoining their holding cell on the third floor of the police station and escape at about 1 a.m.
The source said the detainees appeared to have planned the breakout thoroughly and accumulated the tools needed to make the hole in the wall, as well as the rope they likely used to lower themselves to the ground.
“We assume that’s how they got out, because if they jumped from the third floor they’d certainly have broken some bones,” the source said, declining to discuss how the detainees obtained the tools.
Once outside, the source said, the detainees were believed to have fled through a construction site behind the police station.
“Officers only found out about the escape later in the morning,” the source said.
Sr. Comr. Suryanbodo Asmoro, the Denpasar Police chief, confirmed the breakout and said that five of the detainees were caught at Gilimanuk Port attempting to catch a boat to East Java. The five were identified as Gusti Abdi Pratama, Restu Maulana, Apriono, Fajar Maulana and Arfi Yudi.
The sixth, Muhamad Rawi, remains at large but is still believed to be in Bali, the police chief said.
Asmoro said he had visited the scene of the breakout. He said an initial investigation had cleared officers at the detention center of any involvement in helping the detainees obtain the tools to escape.
“Nevertheless, a full internal investigation will be carried out to make sure,” he said.
The breakout is the third at the Kuta center in the space of a year. On Feb. 1, a juvenile offender managed to escape after noticing that the lock to his cell was broken. On Sept. 27 last year, a detainee identified as Unang “Udin” Iswanto escaped by breaking through the floor of his cell to the room below. He remains at large.
The Kuta Police chief, Adj. Comr. Gede Ganefo, declined to comment on the latest incident
( x the JG)
do 15 sep 2011 - 21:35