Jobs on the line after jail break
6 officers transferred after Uighurs escape
Six immigration officers including the chief of Songkhla’s immigration office have been transferred after 20 illegal Uighur migrants escaped from a detention centre in Songkhla’s Sadao district early yesterday.
The officials’ transfer comes as a massive manhunt continues for the fugitives, who apparently escaped by gouging holes in a wall on the second floor and then lowering themselves to the ground using floor mats and blankets.
Police sources said the detainees managed to make two holes through the wall of their cell, each about 30 centimetres wide, and fled about 2am yesterday.
They rolled blankets into ropes to lower themselves about three metres to the ground below. Five of the migrants were unable to make it out before police noticed the escape.
Police and soldiers, assisted by sniffer dogs, were trying to track down the fugitives.
The fugitives were among 25 Uighur migrants arrested in 2015 and detained at the centre of the Songkhla Immigration Office pending prosecution for illegal entry after their nationality could not be confirmed, sources said.
The 25 were among 200 illegal migrants arrested in 2015. While most were repatriated after nationality verification, this group could not have their nationality verified and refused to return to China, saying they feared for their safety, the sources added.
Pol Lt Gen Sutthiwong Wongpin, acting chief of the Immigration Bureau, said 61 Uighurs are currently being detained at detention centres in Ranong, Mukdahan, Nong Khai, Songkhla, Ubon Ratchathani and Bangkok. They are pending nationality verification before being deported back to their country of origin.
Pol Lt Gen Sutthiwong said he has ordered immigration police nationwide to strengthen measures to prevent a recurrence of any jail break.
He said the six officers from Songkhla have been transferred to the operation centre attached to the Immigration 6 Division.
Of the six officers, three comprise the chief of Songkhla’s immigration office, his deputy and an immigration inspector, while the remaining three are immigration police. The transfer order was made by the Immigration 6 Division, which supervises the Songkhla immigration office.
He said the Immigration 6 Division has ordered a probe into the jail break to determine if the officers at the detention centre were negligent or allowed the migrants to escape.
Pol Lt Gen Sutthiwong said he asked the Police Region 9 Bureau to join the search after the escape was reported.
The jail break was reported at 2am when guards watching security camera footage saw the fugitives climbing down to the ground. By the time they could react, 20 had managed to flee.
No security cameras were installed in the cells.
The fugitives used the floor mats and blankets to cushion themselves against the barbed wire fence around the building. They climbed over the compound wall and disappeared into nearby rubber plantations.
About 30 officers from the immigration office, the border patrol police and soldiers were mobilised to join the search.
Sniffer dogs followed the escape route to the Thai-Malaysian border, about 500 metres from the detention centre, and found some of their clothes. They are believed to have fled across the border.
Authorities also found the border fence had been cut to in three places.
Col Voradech Dechraksa, commander of an army task force, said it was too early to conclude that the migrants had slipped out of the country, and that it was only a suspicion at this stage.
He said their escape is considered a delicate matter and concerns national security, noting that a thorough investigation is needed.
Authorities need more information including whether the migrants received assistance in their escape, he said, referring to the holes in the border fence.
Pol Col Natthaphakhin Kwanchaiphruek, deputy chief of Immigration 6 Office, instructed the officers to work with Malaysian authorities to their search for the fugitives.
An inspection by forensic officials indicated the detainees used sharp objects over an extended period to create the holes in the wall of their cell.
Pol Capt Surasak Siripan, deputy inspector at the Sadao immigration centre, said the five migrants who failed to escape would be questioned.
Holes made in the walls of a detention facility in Songkhla’s Sadao district from which 20 illegal Uighur migrants escaped. They were being detained pending prosecution for illegal entry.