An inmate who escaped with five others in a jailbreak from Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison last week was captured by police on Friday in Kratie province, officials said Sunday.
Police received a tip on Friday that one of the inmates, Sy Noy, 35, was staying at a guesthouse in Kratie province’s Chhlong district, said Tith Sakhoeun, Ratanakkiri’s deputy provincial police chief in charge of serious crimes.
“We have an [informant] network that led us to take action,” he said.
Mr. Sakhoueun added that his department cooperated with Kratie provincial police, who arrested Mr. Noy at 10 p.m. in the Hanchey Buon guesthouse in Hanchey commune.
The six inmates escaped on Thursday in a predawn breakout in which they used hacksaws to cut through the iron bars that covered their cell window and pincers to cut through a chicken-wire fence around the prison’s perimeter.
The five prisoners still at large are Chan Saros, Ouk Chanthou, Lim Sitha, Las Sareth and Un Sopheap.
After questioning the captured inmate, Mr. Sakhoeun said police determined Mr. Saros, who is serving time for robbery, was the mastermind of the escape plan. He added that police still do not know how the prisoners acquired the hacksaws and pincers.
“It is possible they got them from outside since they had contact with others outside,” Mr. Sakhoeun said, adding that inmates have regular access to a phone for calling relatives.
Prison director Tin Sovanny said last week that he believed someone had thrown the tools over the prison’s 3-meter fence.
Mr. Noy, who was arrested in September for drug trafficking, has been returned to the provincial prison, according to Mr. Sovanny.
