Big-time criminals escape Cirebon prison
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.