MAWLAMYINE, Mon State — Police and government officials are searching for five male inmates who escaped from Inn Paung labor camp in Mon State’s Paung Township on Wednesday after attacking a police lance corporal, a township police officer confirmed.
“[The inmates] threw stones and attacked the policeman with a hammer and ran away from the quarry at around 10 a.m.,” police officer Tun Zaw Oo of Paung Township Police Station told The Irrawaddy, adding that the lance corporal who was attacked did not sustain major injuries.
Three of the prisoners are serving terms of 13, nine and eight years while two are serving terms of ten years, according to police records.
Officials from the Correction Department and village administrative bodies joined police in combing the area to search for the escapees, said the police officer.
“There are mountains at the back of the quarry and rubber plantations. We think they are hiding there,” said the police officer.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.