Three male inmates imprisoned on drugs charges this morning stole a prison truck and escaped from a court in southern Chumphon province just before their trial, officials have said.
The incident happened at 8:55am at Lang Suan Provincial Court, where 10 prisoners were being escorted to their hearing. The prison guard who drove the truck unwittingly left the car key in the ignition as he escorted the chained inmates to the building, Corrections Department director-general Naras Savestanan told Post Today.
It was at this moment, that at least five prisoners attempted to escape. In CCTV footage, the first inmate can be seen running out of the opened gate. A second follows him, only to be tackled to the ground by a security guard.
That’s when the fun really starts.
In the clip, just as officials manage to close the gate, a prison truck with three inmates inside it crashes through the fence, running over the second inmate — we’ll assume accidentally — who is still on the ground.
All inmates but the three on the truck have been captured. The trio was identified as Tharathip Permlarp, 26, Krisada Ketnui, 36, and Pichit Klin-ocha, 31. Naras said they had previously been arrested on drugs charges.
Pichet was arrested in May after police in Ranong province raided his car and discovered nearly 2,000 yaba tablets and five grams of crystal meth. The arrests of two others don’t appear to have made local media reports.
The prison truck used in their escape was found abandoned at about 11am in a durian orchard in Thung Tako District, about 20 kilometers from the court.
A manhunt is now on for the three escapees.
