Staff Reporter

All 10 detainees who escaped from the detention centre in Thimphu were apprehended within 24 hours by the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP).

The RBP arrested an escapee from Takti Koti on the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway. Two were rearrested in Thimphu and seven were rearrested from Phuentsholing-Pasakha. It is reported that the seven escapees were caught trying to cross the border into India.

The seven escapees were apprehended on November 23, between midnight and 4am.

RBP launched an inquiry into the lapses that led to the escape.

Deputy Chief of Police Colonel Passang Dorji said that they are investigating how the detainees got hold of the hacksaw that they used to cut the bars of the prison toilet window to escape.

“Accountability will be fixed,” he said.

The 10 detainees escaped from the detention centre in Thimphu in the early hours of November 22.

Six of the escapees were detained for drug trafficking, two for burglary, one for rape, and another one on charges of voluntary manslaughter. Two are non-Bhutanese.