Yahoo – AFP,
December 11, 2017
Denpasar
(Indonesia) (AFP) - A US man convicted on drugs charges escaped Bali's
notorious Kerobokan jail in an early Monday morning jailbreak with another
American prisoner who was caught almost immediately, an official said.
The pair
made a break from the Indonesian resort island's main prison by cutting a hole
in the roof with a hacksaw, authorities said. It was not clear how they
obtained the tool.
Police are
now scouring the palm-fringed island and handing out pictures of escapee
Chrishan Beasley, a 32-year-old arrested in August for carrying five grams of
hashish.
Foreigners
are regularly arrested for drugs offences on Bali.
Beasley was
awaiting a sentencing in his case. It was not immediately clear how much jail
time he was facing, but Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drugs laws,
with the death penalty available in some trafficking cases.
Beasley's
accomplice in the escape, convicted thief Paul Anthony Hoffman, 57, was
apprehended before he could make good on the escape.
"Paul
was immediately recaptured by the locals who saw him trying to escape while
Chrishan, who climbed up before him, managed to run away," Kerobokan chief
warden Tonny Nainggolan told AFP.
Hoffman is
serving a 20-month sentence for robbing a number of convenience stores at
knifepoint.
Kerobokan
houses some of the country's most notorious and high-profile inmates, including
members of the so-called Bali Nine which plotted to bring heroin into Australia
via Bali. Two members of the group have been executed.
Jailbreaks
are common in Indonesia, where inmates are often held in unsanitary conditions
at overcrowded and poorly guarded prisons.
In May,
more than 200 inmates staged a mass breakout from an overcrowded prison on
Sumatra island, while last year a convicted child murderer escaped from jail by
putting on a woman's Muslim veil, make-up and sunglasses and walking out past
unsuspecting guards.
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