COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan police are on the hunt for a Tamil Tiger prisoner who escaped last Sunday. Balasubramaniam Jadisan, alias Wardhan, together with four other prisoners, gave jailers the slip early morning while working in the Wesak Zone at Matara, organised by the Prisons and Rehabilitation Ministry.According to a prisons official, Jadisan had won over the hearts of prison officials with his impeccable conduct and engaging ways and was among the 100 prisoners picked to work in the celebratory grounds of the Buddhist Wesak festival in Southern Sri Lanka.
Having served one year out of his five-year sentence, Jadisan was convicted for engaging in terrorist activities after the end of the war with the Tamil Tigers in 2009.
The police said that teams from the police, army and the prisons department have been deployed to apprehend the escaped convicts. The public has been asked to alert the Terrorist Investigation Division regarding any information on the suspect.
Sri Lankan prisons have a history of jailbreaks by Tamil Tiger cadres before and after the war.
Last month a Tamil Tiger member, who was imprisoned for killing 10 people, escaped through a toilet in the Pottuvil court in Jaffna where he was taken from prison for a hearing. A few years ago, three Tamil Tiger rebels broke out of the Anuradhapura prison.