Using a burka supplied by a visitor, a prisoner managed to escape from Nyborg State Prison in Funen on Saturday evening.
The inmate was visited by a man and a woman clad in a burka, a traditional Muslim garment that veils the face. At some point during the visit, the inmate put on the burka and calmly strolled out of the prison with the other man at around 18:30.
Funen police force have notified the Schengen area of the 30-year-old’s escape and have searched his known hang-outs. Prison inspector Arne Tornvig Christensen said that the prison is investigating how the break-out could have happened.
“We strengthened our inspection and supervision for visitation a year or so ago. But we now have to see whether or not protocol should be further beefed up,” Christensen told Ekstra Bladet tabloid. “He is not a hardened criminal and he has no relations to gang activity.”
The woman who arrived wearing the burka has also mysteriously escaped, and the police expect to charge her with aiding and abetting.
“I can confirm that we are looking for all three. We clearly believe that they were all involved in the escape and are in cahoots,” Funen Police spokesperson Lars Thede told Ekstra Bladet. “He is a foreigner and we believe that he will try to reach his home country, but we don’t see him as being dangerous and won’t use the media in our hunt. But we’ll get him and the other two as well.”
The national prison association, Fængselsforbundet, indicated that procedure dictates that visitors are to be checked when they arrive and depart and therefore believe that the escape was the result of a human error.
If caught, the escaped inmate could face two additional years on top of his current sentence, while his helper also faces jail time.
