Big-time criminals escape Cirebon prison

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Three big-time criminals escaped from Cirebon Prison at dawn on Wednesday, fueling people's concern over security at the prison.

The three criminals escaped the prison between 4 to 5 a.m in the morning by cutting metal bars on the prison cell's ventilation window.

The prison warden, Sihabudin, confirmed the incident and said that his men had secured some evidence including two hacksaw blades and several sarongs. The three inmates were Antono Dwi Handaryoto, 39, Edi Hardi bin Rustam, 33 and Ramli alias Dadang Herman, 43.

Antono, who was serving 20 years in jail for murder, had served jail sentence since September 2001. He is a former Marine captain.

Edi was also sentenced for a murder case in Kampar, Riau province. He got 18 years in jail and had been in jail since March 2001. The third inmate, Ramli, got 12 years in jail for possessing an unlicensed gun. He had been in jail since August 2002.

Sihabudin explained that the escape had apparently been carefully planned. "Cutting through iron bars takes a long time," he said.

After cutting through the iron bars, the inmates climbed a four-meter prison wall with the help of three sarongs that were tied to each other, he said. The three inmates, out of total 548 inmates at prison, had also carefully chosen the escape point.

"The wall is in the middle between tower 1 and tower 2 where the prison guards used to stay to monitor the situation in the prison. The escape point is quite far away from both towers, making it easy for them to climb the wall and escape the prison," said Sihabudin.

Responding to questions as to where the hacksaw blades came from, the warden said that his men were investigating it.

He also said that he had contacted Cirebon police office to track down the inmates.

A similar incident occurred at the Batam penitentiary last year in September when 52 convicts escaped by cutting through the metal bars of their cells. Some have been recaptured, while others are still at large.

The latest mass escape happened in Medan two weeks ago, when scores of adult inmates, who were being kept temporarily at a Children's Penitentiary in Medan, escaped at dawn. Five of them, however, were reportedly recaptured a few hours after the escape.

The 31 inmates, who were mostly serving sentences of between one and four years for drug offenses, escaped from the prison after helping one another to reach the roof of a large dining room. They then broke through the roof and scaled down the prison walls.