41st escapee walks back to prison

APIA - The one prisoner who remained at large after a mass prison break in Samoa earlier this week was yesterday picked up by police while walking back to the prison compound.

Police told Samoan media yesterday that they found 25 year old Ailiki Liki on his way back to Tafaigata prison, a few hundred metres from the entrance of the prison grounds.

Lilomaiava Fou Taioalo, Acting Police Commissioner, said the young man did not resist arrest and was only too happy to get a ride in the police vehicle the rest of the way back to prison.

The recovery of Liki ends a week-long ordeal in Samoa which has shocked the nation.

In the first ever mass prison break and hijacking of a bus in Samoa, the incident has brought the treatment of local prisoners to light.

It has also raised questions about the competency of the police to ensure the security of the prison grounds.

The voluntary return of the last prisoner is not uncommon in Samoa, as families and friends of a prisoner at large are usually the first to turn them in.