PADAWAN: After a five-day search, the last two fugitives from the Puncak Borneo Prison at Jalan Puncak Borneo here were successfully captured yesterday (July 5).
Helicopter, drones and a canine (K9) unit were also deployed to help in the hunt until they were cornered and later led to their capture in a jungle surrounded by housing estates and other premises at Mile 11, Kuching-Serian Road.
The search party was headed by Padawan police together with personnel from the K9 units of the state police headquarters, Puncak Borneo Prison and the Tiger Platoon of the General Operations Force (GOF).
District police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan in confirming the case said Mohamad Fikrry Azzarudin Abdullah, 26, and Rahmat Simbolan, 38, were apprehended at 2.25pm.
Both detainees were taken straight back to the Puncak Borneo Prison, thus ending the nightmare of the residents living around the area.
Earlier on, the residents of High Park reported a disturbance in a nearby jungle which prompted a search using a police helicopter and drones.
The distance between the High Park residential area and prison is about eight kilometres.
Prior to yesterday’s capture, they avoided the police and prison authorities by hiding in the jungle and moving from one location to another.
Mohamad Fikrry, Rahmat and two others — Diveni Bunby from Lundu and Bobin Bohan from Jalan Puncak Borneo — escaped from a transit house at the prison by prying open a grille inside one of the toilets from where they fled across the prison compound to a nearby jungle at 5.10pm on July 1.
At the time there were 59 suspects in total in the transit house.
Diveni, however, was caught at the nearby Prima Housing area in Kampung Sinar Baru at 6.25pm, while Bobin was apprehended at 10.50pm at Lorong 2, Kampung Sinar Baru, both on the same day.
Diveni is remanded under Section 26J of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom) 2007 for smuggling immigrants into the state, an offence that carries a jail term of up to five years or a maximum fine of RM250,000 or both.
Bobin and Mohamad Fikrry, from Sibu, are both remanded for housebreaking under Section 457 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to five years and a fine.
Meanwhile, Rahmat, from Indonesia, is remanded for possessing drugs under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides for a mandatory death sentence or a life imprisonment and, if not punished with the death sentence, he may face no fewer than 15 lashes.
