The four death row inmates who escaped the Bogura District Prison by breaking through the roof of their condemned cells could taste freedom only for around 15 minutes.

As soon as the incident was reported early on Wednesday, the district police launched a manhunt to catch the convicts. The officers who were on duty at night also joined the operation.

Khorshed Alam, sub-inspector of Bogura Sadar Police Outpost, was in charge of the force that night.

Police said they were able to catch the four just 15 minutes after they had escaped the prison’s Jafalong Building around 3:55am on Wednesday.

The four escapees are Md Nazrul Islam Manzur, 60, Md Farid Sheikh, 28, Md Zakaria, 31, and Amir Hamza, 38.

The police and district administration said the building in the prison is very old with the roof made of limecrete but no iron.

The inmates created a hole on the rooftop with a bucket handle for a month.

They made a rope using their towels, bedsheets and used clothes to get out by climbing over the prison wall.

SI Alam said Bogura Superintendent of Police Sudeep Kumar Chakrabarty ordered all on-duty police units, Sadar Police Station OC, the Detective Branch and additional units to catch the fugitives.

“We assumed that the escaped convicts would never use the main road. The prison is near the Karatoya River, which is being excavated now. The banks of the river are used as a means of transport and we suspected that the convicts could take the opportunity,” he said.

He said, “My force and I went to the river bank next to Fateh Ali Market after getting the instruction. After reaching there, we saw four people heading to Chelopara Chashi Bazar on foot along the river bank.

“That's when I got suspicious as we were informed that a total of four inmates had escaped. And they were also four in number. Then the rest of the unit and I rushed there and surrounded them. We asked them some questions but they could not answer them well.”

Continued SI Alam, “We found a prison document after searching their bodies. That’s when we were certain that they were the escaped convicts. We informed the high-ups and took them all to the police station.”