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Death Row Inmate At Indonesian Prison Escapes After Tunnelling Out

Death Row Inmate At Indonesian Prison Escapes After Tunnelling Out

He spent around six months planning his escape

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A prisoner on death row at an Indonesian jail managed to pull off a real-life Shawshank Redemption, having escaped after digging a tunnel from his cell and scurrying through a sewer.

Meth smuggler Chai Changpan, from China, broke out of the Tangerang Prison in Banten on the outskirts of Jakarta on 14 September, exiting through a 30-metre tunnel he had scraped through the ground.

Using a chisel, crowbar and screwdriver he'd pinched from the prison kitchen, he made his way through the tiny tunnel, eventually ending up at the sewers.

CCTV footage shows the man emerging from the sewer pipe before walking off and disappearing into an alley.

Yusri Yunus from Jakarta Police said the fugitive had been planning his escape for 'five to six months'.

Viral Press

Indonesia Directorate General of Prisons spokesman Rika Aprianti said the man had timed his escape to coincide with a guard change at the prison.

Police also said this is not the first time he has escaped from custody. While he was being held at a police station for his trials, he ran away - along with other prisoners - after creating a hole in the bathroom using an iron rod.

The escapees climbed a 2.5-metre wall outside but were recaptured three days later when they were found at a rented flat in West Java.

Changpan is now on Indonesia's most wanted list with cops out searching for him and immigration services putting bans in place to stop him leaving.

Police said Changpan was put on death row in 2017 after he was found guilty of smuggling 110kg of crystal meth into the country.

Viral Press

Police chief Yunus said an inmate confessed that Changpan had planned the breakout at least six months ago.

He said: "We received information from his friend in prison that he first planned to escape months ago. We will find question him if he has any information on Changpan's whereabouts."

Jailbreaks are fairly common in Indonesia where many prisons are overcrowded and understaffed.

Back in 2018, 90 inmates escaped a prison in Banda Aceh after demolishing a fence during a religious gathering.

Meanwhile, in 2017, a whopping 400 inmates broke out of an overcrowded prison in Riau.

Featured Image Credit: ViralPress

Topics: World News, crime