JOHOR BARU, April 12 — The authorities have re-arrested the two Indonesian convicts who had earlier escaped from their van in Kulai while being transported by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) from Kota Tinggi to serve their prison sentence in Ledang.
Johor MMEA director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the escapees, identified as Haji Samirudin, 36 and Riki Rinaldi, 40, are being detained at the Kulai district police headquarters pending further investigation.
“The suspect named Riki Rinaldi was located by the Kulai police team at 9pm last night as a result of information from the public. Riki was found at a distance of approximately 10km from his last known location along Jalan Felda Inas in a lifeless state due to injuries suffered after he jumped off from the van
“The other suspect Haji Samirudin was located at 10.40am today in a field near the scene of his escape,” said Nurul Hizam in a statement here.
He was updating the latest progress of the police manhunt for the two escapees who were to serve their six-month prison sentence before they broke free and fled into an oil palm plantation yesterday.
According to police, the duo broke free of their handcuffs before kicking the van’s rear door to escape in the 11.20am incident.
The convicts, who were supposed to be guarded by three MMEA personnel, then ran off into an oil palm plantation near Jalan Felda Inas heading towards Sengkang.
Nurul Hizam said that with the manhunt over, the MMEA will conduct an internal investigation on the incident yesterday.
“We will take action in the event there is evidence of a violation in security procedures while transporting detainees,” he said.
Last night, it was reported that the escaped duo were among four people earlier arrested by the MMEA under Section 56 (1A)(a) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for entering the country illegally without valid travel documents.
All four had been taken to the Kota Tinggi courts where they were sentenced to six months imprisonment at the satellite prison in Ledang.
