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| Southeast Asia | |
| Philippines police re-enact JI escape | |
| 2003-07-18 | |
| Investigators probing the escape of a Jemaah Islamiah terrorist from the Philippines police headquarters have staged a re-enactment of the breakout. It comes after further damaging revelations that Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi was probably assisted in his escape by a supporter working as a prison cleaner. The head of the investigating unit took reporters on a tour to show how al-Ghozi and two other detainees had simply walked out of the jail building, opened the gates and then used a small guardhouse to jump over the outer wall. Two guards were asleep during the jailbreak, a third was out shopping. Officials say al-Ghozi’s cell was so poorly constructed that the door could be manually bent out of place. These guys make Barney Fife look like Dirty Harry. "Now, we can attribute the escape not only to the human element but also to the physical defect or the structural defect of the detention cell," police criminal investigation director Eduardo Matillano said. Police have admitted an Islamic militant and former detainee had been allowed to work as a cleaner in the jail where al-Ghozi was held and was under suspicion for helping the escape.
Ya think? | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 Gloria's got some major egg on her face. Wonder if she has the nerve to clean it off? |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-7-18 2:56:18 PM |
| #5 Some details from Manila Bulletin: Secretary Joey Lina of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday underscored the need to integrate all detention centers in Camp Crame, Quezon City, into a single custodial unit manned by policemen trained in custodial works. In Camp Crame, the present set-up is there is a separate detention cell for each major operating unit like the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response, Central Intelligence and Detection Group, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and Traffic Management Group, among others. In one of his inspections at the detention cells in Crame, the DILG secretary found that these are guarded by ordinary policemen without sufficient background in custodian work. Most likely this duty fell on the lowest ranking policemen they could find. And each unit has it's own lockup? Authorities demonstrated to reporters how easily the jail cells could be opened even without removing the heavy-duty padlocks to the latch of the iron doors. Senior Supt. Don Montenegro, officer of CIDG for the National Capital Region, said even with the padlocks on, the fugitives had managed to open the iron doors by forcing the latch open. Investigators theorized that the three went out of their cells while the jail guard on duty, one "PO2 Ongkit", slept at a couch in an adjacent room along with two other off duty jail personnel, SPO3 Ben Campo and PO3 Ronald Palmares. PO2/PO3 - If those follow military grades they are really low, E2/E3, with no NCO on duty to keep them alert. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-7-18 1:54:30 PM |
| #4 This escape is not particularly exceptional - this kind of thing has happened in the past, after payoffs were made. (A small number of cops have actually been convicted). The fix was in - no question about it. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-7-18 12:44:00 PM |
| #3 So, who portrayed the two guys that were asleep? Little Abner, the mattress tester? |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-7-18 10:30:55 AM |
| #2 Did they do this on "Philippines Most Wanted"? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-7-18 10:26:19 AM |
| #1 And after re-enacting the escape, they completed the exercise by making bank account deposits... |
| Posted by: flash91 2003-7-18 10:14:45 AM |