Mexican Prison Break Near US Border

By Ryan Villarreal | September 18 2012 9:25 AM

More than 130 inmates have escaped from a Mexican prison near the U.S. border.

Reuters

More than 500 inmates have escaped Mexican jails since 2010, the AP also reported.

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Using a tunnel dug out from the prison's carpentry workshop, 132 men crawled out of the penitentiary in the city of Piedras Negras, located across the border from Eagle Pass, Tex.

The warden and two other employees at the Cereso prison facility are being held for questioning. Coahuila state's chief of public security Jorge Luis Moran told NBC that corruption among the prison staff may have played a part in the mass prison break.

Moran added that U.S. authorities have been alerted and are monitoring the border in case the inmates attempt to cross, while Mexican authorities are undertaking a massive manhunt, the Coahuila state attorney general told the BBC.

The state government is offering 200,000 pesos ($15,600) per escapee for information leading to their arrest, BBC reported.