[DageDage]

Well, it wasn’t exactly the meticulous years-in-the-making prison escape plan from “The Shawshank Redemption” (or even that TV show “Prison Break”, for that matter), but it seems to have been just as effective. Seven prisoners managed to escape from detention at the Police Investigation Narcotics Directorate in East Jakarta early this morning by punching a hole through a bathroom wall.

"The seven inmates escaped by punching holes in the bathroom wall with iron bars and climbing the walls of the [next door] National Brain Center Hospital as tall as 2.5 meters," said Brigadier Eko Daniyanto of the Police Drug Investigations Division in a written statement as picked up by Kompas.

According to police, the escape apparently occurred around 4:15 am. The seven prisoners who are currently on the run include Azizul (30), Ridwan (22), Cai Chang (49), Anthony (33), Amiruddin (27), Ricky Gelani (30), and Sukma Jaya (34). Police have not released many details about their crimes, besides that three had been detained for methamphetamines and four for marijuana.

Eko said they also studying CCTV footage from behind the prison and from the neighboring National Brain Center Hospital. Police said they were forming seven teams, one to pursue each of the seven suspects, as well as keeping tabs on each of the prisoners’ families and their mobile phone accounts.

The officers that were assigned to guard the prisoners when they escaped also being investigated and police say they are analyzing how the prison’s security could have been breached in such a way.