Prisoners escape from cell

SEVEN convicted prisoners have escaped from the Daru police station cell they had been transferred to, after the jail was condemned and closed by authorities, police say.
Assistant Commissioner Police Border Command Peter Philip said the seven – two locals and five Indonesians – had been kept in the Daru police station cells.
“The jail in Daru is undergoing maintenance work and the convicted prisoners (were) kept in the police station cell,” Philip said.
“The five Indonesians were convicted for illegal fishing and serving their terms in Daru.”
He said the prison officers in Daru would have to explain how and why the seven escaped.
“The prisoners are now at large and the CS officers in Daru will answer for the escape,” he said
Philip said the CS officer should have been carefully monitoring the movement of prisoners at the police station cells.
“Moving the prisoners out of the police cell to do community service (was only) creating opportunities for them to escape,” he said.
Philip said CS officers should respect policemen in Daru who were helping them.
“Prisoners escape from the cell block when there is no proper communication between the CS and police officers on who to man the cell blocks,” he said.
Philip is investigation how the prisoners escaped and will deal with the CS and police officers on duty.