23 Apr 2015

Nine murderers among Bougainville escapees

7:28 am on 23 April 2015

The Bougainville Police in Papua New Guinea has released a profile list of 19 prisoners who escaped from the Buka police cells.

Buka jail, Bougainville

The bars prisoners had to cut through to escape jail in Bougainville. Photo: Supplied

The prisoners who escaped during a power blackout last Sunday include nine convicted murderers, two armed robbers and two rapists.

The others were jailed for using threatening words and possession of drugs.

The Bougainville Police Commander, Paul Kamuai, says all men are still at large after several police leads on their whereabouts came to nothing.

"The men have been out they have checked out all the information that was given earlier on as I said. They went into two locations but they were still out in the locations where the police were not able to apprehend them again."

Mr Kamuai says with ongoing preparations for the upcoming elections the escapes are an extra burden on his already stretched resources.

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Bougainville police Photo: RNZ