MADINA: Security authorities in Madina launched a search Sunday for four prisoners who escaped from the Drug Combat Department in the early hours of the morning, officials said. Descriptions of the escaped prisoners have been circulated to all checkpoints, border posts and public-transport buses and checkpoints have been set up, officials said. Personnel from the Administrative Investigations Department told authorities about the incident and three escapees were caught in different locations in the neighboring district, according to an official in the Drug Combat Department. The seven prisoners awaiting deportation to their home countries escaped at 3:00 A.M., by jumping out of an air-conditioner window in the detention room on the second floor, according to a preliminary report. The three captured escapees suffered fractures as a result of jumping from the window, he added. The men were caught at dawn prayer time after authorities received reports from citizens about several people who appeared to be exhausted and were asking for help, the official said. Some of the escapees were involved in major drug-dealing cases; one of them was caught with 10 kilograms of hashish in his possession, said the official, who added that the escapees are of Arab and African nationalities. Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned that the Drug Combat Department summoned all its personnel Sunday and imposed strict measures on those who visited the department. Large numbers of its personnel were seen surrounding the entrance.
