Two Bali escaped inmates captured in Timor Leste

An Indonesian Police officer attaches photographs of four foreign prisoners who escaped from Bali's Kerokoban Prison at a convenient store in Bali. PHOTO: EPA

JAKARTA (AFP) - Two foreign inmates who tunnelled their way out of a Bali prison have been captured in Timor Leste, police said Friday (June 23), in the latest prison break case in Indonesia.

Bulgarian Dimitar Nikolov Iliev and Indian Sayed Mohammed Said were caught at a hotel in Dili Thursday morning after arriving on a boat illegally from Indonesia.

They had escaped from Kerobokan prison Monday along with with two other inmates, Australian Shaun Edward Davidson and Malaysian Tee Kok King.

The pair were originally caught for entering Timor Leste without legal documents, said East Timor senior police official Henrique da Costa, but police later concluded the pair were two of the four Bali fugitives.

"We will most likely hand them back to the Indonesia Friday afternoon now that we know they are fugitives," da Costa told AFP.

The four foreign inmates escaped Bali's prison through a 50 x 75cm (20 x 30 inch) hole at the prison's wall that connects to a 15-metre (49-foot) long water tunnel heading towards a main street.

Davidson - who was going to be freed within months - and the Malaysian inmate are still on the run.

The Bali jailbreak came days after dozens of prisoners swam through flood waters to escape an Indonesian jail in Jambi province after one of its walls collapsed. Most were later recaptured.

In May, more than 440 inmates fled a prison in Pekanbaru City on the island of Sumatra after prison guards let them out of their cells to pray. Only about half were caught.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.