Police are still hunting for the 10th Uighur illegal immigrant who has evaded a police dragnet, while nine other fellow countrymen who escaped from the immigration detention centre in Nong Khai on Monday have been recaptured.
The escapee, Rashit Hashim, 22, a Turkish national of Uighur descent, was spotted on CCTV footage at about 1.20 pm on Tuesday walking alone on a road, wearing a purple T-shirt and blue shorts, a hat and a backpack.
Police suspected that Hashim broke away from the other escapees to scout the route ahead. But shortly after they separated, the nine other Uighur immigrants were rounded up by police in the bushes behind Wat Ban Nong Kham.
Witnesses told police that they spotted a man with a backpack walking toward Udon Thani. A police team was later dispatched to the scene but they found no traces of anyone that matched the witnesses’ account.
Police however said they suspected Hashim might be hiding himself during the daytime in an effort to avoid police detection.
