A BIG hunt is underway on the Thai-Malaysian border for 20 Uighur detainees who broke out of an Immigration Center cell in Songkhla’s Sadao district early this morning, INN News reported this afternoon (Nov. 20).
However 5 other Uighurs who were in the same cell as the escapees failed to get through and have since been locked up in a different cell.
The Uighur escapees made a hole in the wall of the cell big enough for a person to get through and then used fabric and a mat which they had tied together to abseil 3 meter down after which they separated and went in different directions.
After the jailbreak police officers from many Sadao units helped by trained dogs from a military camp here started hunting for the escapees near the border with Malaysia where they are suspected to be heading.
Pol. Capt Surasak Siriphan, deputy inspector of Sadao Immigration police, said police are going through CCTV footage and are chasing the Uighur escapees along the border.
As they broke out of the cell early in the morning rubber farmers at nearby plantations did not see them because no one went out to tap rubber as it had rained heavily last night.
CAPTION:
Top and in-text: The Immigration Center cell from which the Uighurs escaped this morning. Photos: INN News