Chinese jail break fugitives caught after three days on the run
Convicted child killer and serial escapee tracked down after massive manhunt, during which two police officers were killed in a road accident
Two inmates who escaped from a prison in northeast China have been caught after a major manhunt in which 1,000 villagers were mobilised to join the search and two auxiliary police officers were killed in a car crash.
Wang Lei, 33, and Zhang Guilin, 39, who had already escaped from jail twice before, were found hiding in a rural area of Pingquan city in Hebei province on Saturday afternoon soon after they were spotted by drones, according to media reports.
The two, who were both serving life sentences, were reported to have used a key card and stolen guards’ uniforms to escape from Lingyuan No 3 Prison in the neighbouring province of Liaoning on Thursday. On Sunday, officials said the chief of the prison had been fired, according to The Beijing News.
Police offered a 100,000 yuan (US$14,500) reward for information about the escaped pair, while anyone who found them would be rewarded with 200,000 yuan.
The first tip-off that the police received was when the pair were spotted in a small grocery shop near the border of Liaoning province – about 20km (12 miles) away from the prison – at 11am on Thursday.
On the same day at 5pm, Wang visited another shop 10km away from the previous one across the border in Hebei.
The owner later told police the fugitive had spent 130 yuan on a bottle of white wine, six bottles of beer, 10 bottles of water and some sausages.