A Chinese prisoner on death row in Indonesia escaped through a sewer by digging a tunnel from his jail cell.
Convicted meth smuggler Chai Changpan broke out of Tangerang Prison in Banten province on the outskirts of Jakarta on September 14 through a 30-metre long tunnel he scraped in the ground.
He crawled through the tiny passage using a chisel, crowbar, and screwdriver that he stole from the jail's kitchen. He eventually reached the sewers.
CCTV footage shows the fugitive emerging from the pipe network and walking away before disappearing in an alley.
Jakarta Police spokesman Yusri Yunus said Changpan had been planning the escape for ''five to six months''.
The inmate had reportedly timed his escape to coincide with the changing of the guards, according to Indonesia Directorate General of Prisons spokesman Rika Aprianti.
Changpan is now on the country's most-wanted list as officers search for him and immigration have put bans in place to stop him passing through the borders.
Police said that Changpan was put on death row in 2017 after being proven guilty of smuggling 110 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in the country.
Officers said this was not the first time that the convict escaped detention.
While he was being held at a police headquarters for court trials, he had run away along with other prisoners by creating a hole in the bathroom using an iron rod.
They climbed a 2.5-metre wall outside but was recaptured after three days in a rented apartment in West Java.
Police chief Yusri Yunus said an inmate confessed that Changpan had planned the breakout at least six months ago.
He said: "We received information from his friend in prison that he first planned to escape months ago. We will find question him if he has any information on Changpan's whereabouts."
Jailbreaks are common in the country's prisons that are mostly overcrowded and understaffed.
In 2018, 90 inmates escaped a prison in Banda Aceh province by demolishing a fence during a religious gathering while 400 inmates broke out of an overcrowded prison in Riau province a year earlier.
