Jan. 19 (UPI) — At least 75 inmates including many from a Brazilian gang escaped from a prison in Paraguay on Sunday, authorities said.
Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo said national police had been deployed to hunt for the escapees from the prison in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero on the border of Brazil after officials discovered a tunnel leading out of the prison.
Acevedo added, however, that the tunnel may have been deployed as a device to hide that prison officials were complicit in allowing inmates to walk out of the main gate of the prison and several may have been released in the past week.
He said that one escapee was recaptured while escaping through the tunnel but many may have already escaped to Brazil while others may still be in the country.
Most of the escapees were members and initiates of the Brazilian gang First Capital Command and are highly dangerous.
