Alleged thief steals away before being sent to jail

A man in his 20s charged with theft escaped custody right before entering prison while waiting for a Covid-19 test in front of the Uijeongbu Prison in Gyeonggi, according to prosecutors and the police on Sunday.

The prisoner was handcuffed and fled through the main gate of the prison in broad daylight, around 3:45 p.m. Saturday.

The man was waiting to get tested for Covid-19 before entering Uijeongbu Prison when he saw that the main gate of the prison were open and police officers around him were distracted.

The man made a run for the gate and got away.

He reportedly threw away his mobile phone right after making the escape.

Around 150 prosecutors and police officers as well as search dogs searched the area until late into the night on Saturday but could not find him.

Authorities resumed the manhunt Sunday morning.

“Along with a search team in the field, we applied scientific methods to expand the scope of the search and track down the runaway,” said the investigative authorities.

An arrest warrant had been issued for the man after he failed to show up for his trial for larceny at Uijeongbu District Court.

The Gangseo Police Precinct in Seoul arrested him in a separate case on Saturday, and saw the outstanding warrant from the Uijeongbu District Prosecutor’s Office, and transferred him to Uijeongbu Prison.

The man was last seen wearing a white sweatshirt and a pair of beige shorts. He is described as being 170-centimeter-tall with a slim physique and curly dark brown hair.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]