A drug gang leader who was imprisoned in a prison in Colombia managed to escape with the help of a prison guard.
According to the Colombian daily Eltiempo on the 21st (local time), a prison guard believed to be an insider was arrested after one inmate escaped from the Lapicota prison in Bogota, the capital city, on the 18th.
The prisoner who escaped was Juan Larinson Estupinian, nicknamed 'Matamba', who led a faction of the Gulf Clan, Colombia's largest drug gang.
He was also pursued by U.S. law enforcement authorities, but was arrested in May of last year on drug trafficking and money laundering charges and has been imprisoned in Rafikota, a top-security prison.
CCTV footage released after the jailbreak was revealed showed him slowly escaping through an open door while wearing a prison uniform.
There was not a single guard in the vicinity.
Prosecutors have arrested one prison guard who left the door open about an hour before the jailbreak, and are conducting an investigation with the prison warden and 55 prison guards with disciplinary measures such as suspension of their duties.
Colombian President Ivan Duque has ordered the arrest of not only the escaped Matambas, but also all those who helped escape, saying he would reform the prison system comprehensively.
In Colombia, even earlier this month, allegations of corruption in prisons continue to rise, with the head of the correctional authority being dismissed after it was revealed that business prisoners were freely roaming or going out in the prison.
In the case of Matamba, who had escaped prison twice before and had been caught again, in 2018, during temporary house arrest for treatment, she even pretended to be dead by forging a death certificate, the Colombian magazine Semana reported.
(Photo = Daily LTMPO Twitter capture, Yonhap News)