Bali prison escapee nabbed

DENPASAR, Bali: After more than two years at large, I Ketut Artana, who escaped from the Kerobokan Penitentiary in the city in 1999, was nabbed in Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, recently.

Bali Provincial Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Yatim Suyatmo said here on Monday that the prisoner had been netted in an operation by the Central Sulawesi Police in Donggala on Sunday.

"He was arrested after the police in the two provinces cooperated to search for him soon after he escaped," he said, citing the police concentrated their search in Donggala as they knew that many his relatives were residing in the regency.

Artana escaped from the prison on Dec. 5, 1999 when he, with fellows inmates, torched the prison. He was serving a three-year sentence for assault.

A total of 289 inmates escaped the prison but, later, more than 130 were recaptured, while the rest are still at large. --JP