Spoon prison escape: A Russian inmate used a spoon to dig an escape out of prison, it was reported Tuesday.
Police are searching for murder suspect Oleg Topalov after he dug out of Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina jail, according to the Moscow Times. He reportedly used a spoon to dig a hole in the ceiling of his jail cell.
“The only object that could have been used to prepare an opening in the ceiling and was in Oleg Topalov’s cell was a tablespoon,” reported the Itar-Tass news agency, according to the Times.
Topalov, who was described as “mentally abnormal,” is said to have worked as an assassin for a criminal organization that did jobs for the Russian mafia. RT.com reported that he was described by staff as “liable to escape.”
He was detained for a year and a half and was slated to appear in court shortly.
Federal Penitentiary Service spokesperson Sergey Tsygankov told RT that Topalov “expanded the vent of an air-shaft with the help of some item” before leaving the jail undetected.
“From the roof he escaped over the main fence,” a prison service spokesman was quoted by Sky News as saying.
Investigators said that prison staff were “dishonest or careless” in allowing Topalov, 33, to escape.
