Lebanese police outside a detention center in Beirut on Aug. 7, 2022 after an escape of detainees. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — More than 30 detainees escaped early Sunday from the Adlieh detention center in Beirut via a window after clandestinely bringing a tool into the prison, security and judicial sources reported.
After the prison break in the Adlieh area, near the Justice Palace in Beirut, the escaped detainees' arrest "was immediately ordered … and an investigation has been opened," the Internal Security Forces said in a statement.
An AFP correspondent on Sunday morning observed security forces deployed in the area.
According to a judicial source close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, "some detainees are Lebanese and others [are] foreigners, notably Syrians and Palestinians."
According to a security source, they were probably helped by one or more accomplices outside of the prison.
These escapes come as the economic crisis that has plunged more than 80 percent of Lebanese below the poverty line and forced many members of the country's security forces to seek second or alternative jobs to secure a better income.
The unprecedented economic crisis has further aggravated poor conditions inside Lebanon's prisons, where overcrowding and lack of medical care regularly cause protests and riots by inmates.