Hunt launched for 7 Basilan prison escapees

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — The military and police in Basilan province have joined forces to find seven inmates who bolted the Lamitan City jail on Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Fernando Reyeg, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan, dispatched personnel from the Army’s 18th Infantry Battalion to help the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the local police rearrest the prisoners.

Maj. Christopher Panapan, chief of the Lamitan City Police Station, said eight prisoners escaped, but only one, identified as Moumar Ima, was arrested on Sunday afternoon in Barangay Kulaybato, Lamitan.

Col. Rufino Inot, chief of the Basilan Police Provincial Office, said the prisoners, seven of them facing drug charges, escaped on Sunday while only one guard was securing the jail.

One of two firearms stolen by the prisoners was recovered, police said. —Julie Alipala