A Chinese drug trafficker who was captured in Indonesia and is one death row made a daring escape last week.
The inmate went through the sewage system, according to the statement released by the local police on September 21.
Successful escape
Cai Changpan, also known as Cai Ji Fan, was jailed in the Tangerang area on the outskirts of the capital city Jakarta. He was arrested on charges of smuggling methamphetamine.
On September 21, he escaped by digging a hole from his cell into waste pipes and onto a road outside the prison, according to Jakarta police spokesperson Yusri Yunus.
Cai had been planning the escape for approximately five to six months, according to his cellmate. He dug the hole using tools from a construction project in the prison kitchen, as reported by CNA.
According to Indonesia Directorate General of Prisons spokeswoman Rika Aprianti, Cai had timed his escape to the changing of the prison guards.
Cai had been sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking 135 kilograms or almost 300 pounds of crystal meth, according to detik.com, an Indonesian news website.
A police investigation found 70 kilograms or 154 pounds of meth hidden in chicken coop cleaner equipment. This is not Cai's first escape, in 2017 he broke out of a police detention center in Jakarta by breaking a hole in a bathroom wall.
Police are now in search of Cai, and is included on their most wanted list.
Death penalty in Indonesia
Indonesia has a very strict law when it comes to drugs. Smugglers who are found guilty are given the death penalty. In 2019, a Frenchman has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking after prosecutors had asked for a 20-year prison term.
The 35-year-old smuggler, Felix Dorfin, was convicted of trafficking about 3 kilograms or 6.6 pounds of various drugs into the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok. He was arrested in September 2019 at the island's airport.
Dorfin was arrested carrying a suitcase that was filled with 3 kilograms of drugs, including amphetamines and ecstasy, after flying into the airport from Singapore, according to BBC.
According to the judge who took his case, Dorfin was involved in an international drug syndicate, and the amount of drugs in his possession is an aggravating factor.
The prosecutors had requested 20 years in jail and a fine of $700,000, or if the fine is not met, an extra year's imprisonment is granted. However, it is common for judges to go beyond what prosecutors require in Indonesia.
A number of foreigners remain on death row in the country, and no one has been executed since 2016. Early 2019, Dorfin escaped from the prison that he was being held in by sawing off the bars on his cell's window and rappelling down with a rope made of a sarong and curtains.
A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping him escape from jail and giving him the materials that he needed in exchange for money. Dorfin was later recaptured by the authorities who found him hiding in a forest in the north of the island.
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