41 guards arrested over Mexico prison escape

Mexico City, Dec 22 (IANS/EFE) Forty-one guards at a Mexican prison have been arrested in connection with the escape of 151 inmates, officials said.

The prison break took place Dec 17 in Nuevo Laredo, a border city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

The prison officials broke the law and will be prosecuted, Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez said.

“We are confident that in the next few days we will clear up what happened, who is guilty and we can move ahead with their punishment,” he said.

Authorities, however, have not been able to capture any of the escaped inmates so far.

Army troops and Federal Police officers have been on the lookout since the jailbreak.

The federal government has called Tamaulipas officials’ inefficiency “deplorable”, adding that 352 inmates have escaped from the state’s prisons this year.

The whereabouts of prison warden Efrain Hernandez, who has not shown up for work since the incident, are not known.

“It is clear that the warden, who is missing at this time, is involved or was threatened or extorted,” the governor said.

–IANS/EFE