Prisoner uses teaspoon to start forklift, escape over jail roof

Still on lam after Aug. 4 breakout in Belgium

A forger has made a daring escape from a Belgian prison after using a teaspoon to start a forklift truck.

Mouslim Aboubakarov, 40, used the forklift to get on the roof of the Nieuwewandeling prison in Ghent and escape, local media reported

Monday. The spoon was taken from the jail’s canteen by the Russian prisoner, who had recently been offered more privileges and freedoms as a reward for being trustworthy.

Escaping from prison is not punishable by law in Belgium but escapees do face punishment for any offences committed in the course of breaking out.

Aboubakarov, who speaks fluent Dutch, has been on the run since escaping from the prison in Flanders, on Aug 4. A police helicopter and sniffer dogs were deployed but Aboubakarov evaded recapture, despite the manhunt, and he is still at large.

The internationally wanted criminal was serving a sentence of 15 years for forgery, fraud, hostage-taking, possession of illegal weapons and theft with violence against an elderly woman.

Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper reported that Aboubakarov made his escape alone and without the help of any accomplices.

Frank Scheerlinck, a lawyer who defended Aboubakarov in 2012, said: “He is someone who trusts only himself.

“I would be surprised if he shared his plans with anyone.”

Aboubakarov was convicted of torturing an elderly woman in 2012.

She managed to bite him which made it possible to identify him through DNA.