TABUK: Police arrested four prisoners who had escaped from Tabuk Prison after a nine-hour siege that followed 25 days of tracking and monitoring.
Security forces used airplanes from Prince Faisal Air Base to track the escaped prisoners, and followed tips and investigations on the ground. Col. Faisal Al-Zahrani, chief of Special Emergency Force in Tabuk, led the operation involving a number of police officers in the region and other supporting authorities.
The four escapees were tracked to a desert region 50 km from Tabuk; after their vehicle broke down, they decided to escape on foot. After they were located, their hideout was besieged in a standoff that lasted nine hours.
The press secretary of the Tabuk police, Lt. Col. Khaled Al-Ghaban, said that police arrested the escapees after a successful operation that resulted in no injuries.
Three of the Tabuk prisoners are related; two of them are brothers and the third is their nephew. They also arrested a fifth person found with the prisoners, and drugs and arms found in their rugged mountainous hiding site were seized.