Police warn Beon escapees ‘not to run’

By DOROTHY MARK
POLICE are warning the 46 Beon jail inmates still on the run to give themselves up before the end of the week.
Madang acting provincial police commander Jacob Bando said at the Jomba police station yesterday he was happy that the escapees were willing to surrender but they had to do it soon.
He wants them to trust him and establish contact so that they could arrange the surrender.
Of the 49 inmates who walked out of the jail last week, four were re-captured. But one of the four managed to escape from the Jomba police station cell.
On Monday night, a man claiming to be one of the escapees called The National to say that a group of prison officers came close to where they were hiding, forcing them to split up and flee.
He said they had escaped to draw attention to some of the grievances they had which prison authorities had been ignoring.
He said they wanted an assurance that the list of grievances would be addressed before they surrendered.
“I am worried that we may not fulfil the reason we came out for,” he said.
“We broke out because we want to raise our concerns on our welfare and will surrender in the presence of our governor and responsible authorities.”
He said the escapees wanted police to stop raiding their hideout because it would only delay their surrender.
Bando has appealed to the community harbouring the convicts to establish contact and negotiate terms for the escapees’ surrender.