A British inmate is among five prisoners on the run after breaking out of a high-security prison in Portugal, local authorities have said.
The man, named locally as Mark Roscaleer, and his fellow fugitives were said to have escaped from the Vale de Judeus facility on Saturday with help from people on the outside. He is serving a nine-year prison sentence for kidnap and robbery, according to Portuguese media.
“What failed here is the Portuguese state, due to the lack of guards and investment. Security is at stake,” said Frederico Morais, the president of the prison guards’ union.
He told Portugal’s SIC Noticias news channel the escaped prisoners were extremely dangerous, and warned the public not to approach them.
According to the Reuters news agency, the five inmates included an Argentinian and a Georgian, as well as two Portuguese men. They escaped from the prison, about 18 miles north of Lisbon, at about 10am local time on Saturday, authorities said.
According to the Portuguese prison service, the men – aged between 33 and 61 – had “external help through the launch of a ladder, which allowed the inmates to scale the wall and access the outside”. Police officers had been deployed to recapture the escapees, it added.
The two Portuguese inmates were serving 25-year sentences for offences including drug trafficking, criminal association, theft, robbery and kidnapping, the prison service said. The other three had been convicted of offences including theft, kidnapping and robbery.
Portugal’s justice ministry, which oversees the prison system, was not immediately available for comment.
Vale de Judeus is a high-security prison with capacity for 560 inmates, according to its website.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports of a British man who has escaped from prison in Portugal and are in contact with the local authorities.” British authorities declined to comment when asked to confirm Roscaleer’s identity.