The police are confident of nabbing two of the five detainees still at large, following their escape from police custody on Jan 7.

This follows new ‘leads’ which the police had received on the whereabouts of the duo, believed to be in hiding in Ara Kuda in Tasek Gelugor.

State police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi told reporters in Tasek Gelugor today that based on the ‘leads’, the five escapees had split into two groups of two and three, moving only on foot as they did not have any means of transport.

They were probably still in the forest area, he said, adding that the police had widened their search to the Baling border and Pengkalan Hulu in Perak.

In the 9am incident on Monday, nine detainees from the Penang Prison assaulted and forced their four police escorts out of the van they were being ferried in, en route to the Butterworth courthouse.

The nine then used the vehicle to make their getaway.

Subsequently, the police picked up two of the detainees near the van, which was recovered in Kampung Padang Chempedak in Tasek Gelugor.

Yesterday, another two were shot dead while attempting to escape in a car at Kampung Padang Ibu in Bukit Mertajam near here. They were identified as Mohd Fairuz Adam, 31, also known as ‘Joe Mafia’, and Mohd Noor Mustafa, 28, a member of the ‘Joe Mafia’ gang.

Abdul Rahim said this morning that the police received a tip-off from residents at a village in Tasek Gelugor this morning that two of the five escapees had stopped there to seek help from villagers.

“According to the information we received, the two detainees went to the villagers’ houses to request for food, cigarettes, money and shelter,” he said.

He said the duo had also changed their clothes and wore long-sleeved shirts, probably to evade police detection and mislead the public.

“Again, I wish to caution the public and villagers here not to offer any assistance to the detainees. If suspicious-looking people come to your house, call the police immediately,” he advised.

Meanwhile, he said the police would reinforce the tracking team from 250 to 270, comprising personnel from the Bukit Aman Air Unit and General Task Force.

The escapees still at large are Mohd Shahrimi Mohd Noor, 28, Mohamad Farid Akhtar, 24, Hamzani Harun, 37, Mohamad Khairulnizam Abdul Rani, 26, and Hisham Abdul Rahman, 39.

- Bernama