Photo:ANN
TOKYO — Police on Friday captured a Chinese inmate who sparked a nationwide manhunt when he bolted from a Hiroshima prison clad only in his underwear in Japan’s first prison break in more than two decades.
Police found Li Guolin, 40, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in Hiroshima at around 4:30 p.m.
Police said he was spotted by three officers patrolling the area, about two kilometers north of the prison. He was wearing a face mask and a knitted cap. When police questioned him, he identified himself in Japanese.
Police said Li had a fruit knife on him with a 10-cm-long blade and 10 yen. He offered no resistance, and just said he was tired and hungry, according to police.
NHK reported that there were many people on the street at the time of Li’s capture and that they all started clapping and cheering. Li was shown on TV being taken to a police station. He wore a heavy jacket and ski cap pulled down over his face.
Li is believed to have broken into a private residence to steal clothes after his escape. His DNA was found in saliva on a beer can in the residence, police said.
Li, believed to be the leader of a gang of burglars, was convicted in 2005 for shooting at a police officer and stealing a squad car.
Nearly 800 officers had been assigned to the hunt for Li, a Chinese national who had been jailed for shooting at an officer and stealing a squad car in 2005.
The escape Wednesday was the first ever from the Hiroshima prison. A corrections official with the Justice Ministry said the last escape by an inmate from within a Japanese prison was in 1989.
Li managed to climb over a wall inside the prison campus and then use scaffolding to get over the 4.5-meter outer wall, which was under construction for repairs. Sensors on the wall were turned off because of the repair work.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the government was sorry for the security lapse.
“We apologize for troubling the area’s residents. We will thoroughly review the case to prevent a similar incident,” he said.
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http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/ann?a=20120113-00000049-ann-soci (Japanese)
