DUBAI // Four men escaped from prison by digging a hole behind the toilet in their cell before scaling a wall using a ladder made out of pipes from an AC unit and clothes, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
Shortly after midnight on July 7 last year, the three Iranians and an Iraqi, aged between 21 and 52, escaped from their cell at Dubai’s Central Prison through the hole.
They sneaked through the health services unit and used a copy of an emergency exit key to get outside before climbing over the prison’s outer wall using the ladder.
But the fugitives did not get very far and were arrested the next day in the desert.
Prison guards did not notice the men were missing until about 2am.
“I immediately conducted a check of the cells then found the hole in their cell,” said an Emirati police lieutenant, 33.
The men were being held in connection with several cases, details of which were not in records. They admitted to escaping from their cell, but said the hole was already there.
“It’s true, but the hole was there already, it was small and we dug it bigger,” three of the defendants told the court. The fourth man did not appear.
All four are charged with escaping detention and causing Dh16,750 in damages to prison facilities.
They admitted to all charges when they appeared in court.
The next hearing will be on April 10.
salamir@thenational.ae