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<!--Smvb-->By Greg Morsbach
BBC News <!--Emvb-->
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A manhunt is under way in western Germany for a
convicted drug dealer who escaped by mailing himself out of
jail.
The 42-year-old Turkish citizen - who was serving a seven-year
sentence - had been making stationery with other prisoners destined
for the shops.
At the end of his shift, the inmate climbed into a cardboard box
and was taken out of prison by express courier. His whereabouts are
still unknown.
The chief warden of the jail told the BBC this was an
embarrassing incident.
The prison authorities in Willich, near Duesseldorf, said the
man, who was tall and broad-shouldered, had hidden in a box that
was about 150cm by 120cm.
When the weekly express courier arrived to pick up several boxes
of merchandise, the one containing the prisoner was also loaded
into the back of the lorry.
Shortly after it had passed through the prison gates, the inmate
made his dash for freedom by cutting a big hole in the tarpaulin of
the lorry and jumping off.
The driver alerted the police after he noticed the tarpaulin
flapping in the breeze.
Lying low
The jail's chief warden, Beate Peters, said the man must have
had accomplices outside the prison.
"As soon as the prisoner jumped off the back of the lorry his
friends would have picked him up," she told the BBC.
"We have no idea where the fugitive is hiding. We assume that he
is still in the county and is lying low before making his
move."
Ms Peters said fellow convicts must also have known of his plan
but that they would not talk because of a "code of honour" and
because it is a criminal offence in Germany to help somebody escape
from jail.
She said the incident showed that security needed to be beefed
up urgently, something she had been lobbying for in the last few
years.
"I was not surprised that an escape happened on my watch. For
years I had been asking for more security guards from the
government. But now they'll have to listen."
