Prisoners found hiding out in a villa planned to escape across the sea

DUBAI // The four prisoners who escaped from Al Murqabbat Police station two weeks ago were recaptured by police on Friday night.

After escaping on December 18, the men fled to "several other emirates" before returning to Dubai where they were caught hiding in an abandoned villa, according to Brigadier Khalil al Mansouri, the head of CID at Dubai Police. He did not disclose the exact location of the villa.

"The suspects confessed that they had planned to carry out a theft to get some money and then try to escape across the sea to another country. When we arrested them they had no money and they had lived on bread since their escape," said Brig al Mansouri, who added that the suspects did not receive help from anyone with the escape.

The search for the men involved more than 90 police officers, and Dubai Police liaised with a number of other authorities to ensure "strict control of all the country's border posts", he added.

The four men managed to escape by scaling a wall after running from a policeman who was escorting them to make telephone calls to members of their family.

Two of the four were detained in connection with the robbery from a shop, a third was being held on suspicion of drug use and the fourth was being held on suspicion of theft.

Last week, Lt General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of Dubai Police, said that investigations concluded that there was no police collaboration in the escape.