AIZAWL: Three out of five prisoners, who escaped from Lunglei district jail recently, have been re-arrested, police said.
The five prisoners, who hailed from Myanmar, escaped from the district jail on early April 19 by breaking the wall of the toilet of a cell.
Three out of the five Myanmarese criminals are life convicts while the remaining two are undertrials waiting to appear in court.
Four of the five escaped convicts were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, while one was recently convicted for life due to murdering a Mizo woman and looting her.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 also knows as the NDPS Act, prohibits any individual from engaging in any activity consisting of production, cultivation, sale, purchase, transport, storage, and/or consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
The escaped Myanmar nationals were caught for possession and trafficking of heroin from Myanmar to Mizoram. They were later convicted for life for their crimes. But the hardened criminals had broken out bricks from the wall of a toilet and escaped by scaling a 20-feet barricade topped by barbed wire structures at Lunglei district jail..
Police said in a statement that all-out efforts were made to locate and re-arrest the escaped prisoners and a manhunt was launched in all parts of the state soon after the jailbreak. Their efforts are paying off.
Three of the five jailbreakers have been arrested and sent back to Lunglei district jail with the herculean efforts of the state police, the statement said.
Two escapees -Lalbawihliana (27) and Dokapthang (26) were apprehended by residents of Mausen village from a restaurant on April 20 and were handed over to the state police.
The two prisoners were arrested for possessing methamphetamine and were booked under trial.
Another escapee identified as Lalchawimawia (24) from Myanmar’s Tahan was re-arrested on Monday.
He was arrested and convicted last year for murdering a woman and looting her.
An all-out manhunt for the remaining two escapees is still on, the police statement said.
The state police also urged the public to extend continued support and cooperation to ensure the re-arrest of the remaining escapees.
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