Aussie tunnels out of Bali jail
AN Australian man with just two months and 15 days left to serve is among four foreign inmates who staged a daring escape from Bali’s Kerobokan prison via an underground tunnel yesterday.
Shaun Edward Davidson from Perth was serving a 12month sentence after being convicted in September last year of using fraudulent travel documents.
He was also fined $10,000 and officials said his sentence was almost finished.
Bali Corrections authorities have confirmed that Davidson, along with a Bulgarian, an Indian and a Malaysian prisoner, were found missing from the jail yesterday.
Authorities believe the men burrowed out through a water drainage tunnel, about 15 metres long, which ironically saw them coming out just near an unmanned guard tower.
The hole’s diameter was just 50-75cm and police are questioning how the men could have squeezed through such an impossibly small hole.
Staff shortages meant there were no guards in the tower at the time and CCTV cameras at the scene appear not to have been working.
The four prisoners were discovered missing at 7.30am when the night shift guards ended and handed over to day shift.
Kerobokan jail Governor Tony Nainggolan said it was believed the men may have been planning the escape for some time as they had started changing their appearance by growing beards, moustaches and sideburns.
Mr Nainggolan said when guards started searching for the men they found what they thought was a septic tank cover.
It turned out to be the old water tunnel. Two water buckets, towels, a water bottle and a thong were found near the scene. He said police were investigating if there was any involvement of jail staff or other inmates.
Davidson, 32, from Subiaco in Perth, was convicted of using another man’s Australian passport in Bali. At the time he was wanted on drugs charges in WA and had fled to Bali.