BASILAN ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 20 Jul) – Police forces mounted a massive manhunt on the southern Filipino island of Basilan after 16 hardened criminals, including four Abu Sayyaf militants, bolted from the provincial jail before dawn.
“We have launched pursuit operations to recapture the prisoners,” said Chief Inspector Christopher Panapan, of the Basilan police force.
He said the prisoners destroyed the iron grill of their cell and escaped at around 3.50 a.m. “Four of those who bolted jail are members of the Abu Sayyaf. They are kidnappers,” he said.
Panapan did not say how many guards were there when the prisoners escaped. It was unknown whether the guards or jail warden have been sacked over the latest escape.
It was the second mass jailbreak in three years from the island’s overcrowded jail located in Isabela City.
In April 2004, police said 53 prisoners, among them 19 Abu Sayyaf terrorists, escaped from the provincial jail after a visitor smuggled a gun used in overpowering three guards. Eight of the escapees were killed and nine recaptured by responding soldiers and policemen. (Mindanao Examiner)
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