41 Prisoners break out of Venezuela jail

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 November 2014, 21:54 by GxMedia

Caracas, Nov 26 (EFE).- A total of 41 alleged criminals fled on Wednesday morning from a jail managed by the CICPC scientific, penal and criminal research corps in the central Venezuelan city of Los Teques, in the state of Miranda.

“According to preliminary information, at approximately 2 a.m. on Wednesday a total of 41 prisoners took advantage of a hole in the wall of the jail at the CICPC headquarters in Los Teques to flee,” the Public Ministry said Wednesday in a communique.

According to the local press, CICPC officials, Miranda state police and members of the Bolivarian National Guard, Venezuela’s militarized police force, launched a search for the fugitives near the city.

The daily El Nacional attributed the prisoners’ escape to “overcrowding” at the police facility, which has a capacity of 40 prisoners but which – the paper said – was holding at least 130 people at the time of the breakout.

Local Union Radio reported that 23 of the men who fled had been arrested for murder, eight for vehicle theft, four for kidnapping and the rest for unspecified “common crimes.”