A SURINAMESE woman early yesterday morning escaped from the New Amsterdam Prison, but was nabbed mere hours after by vigilant policemen at the Number 78 Village back-track crossing.

The woman earlier this year tried to smuggle cocaine through the Ogle International Airport but was arrested by ranks of the Police Narcotics Branch and later remanded to prison.

Prison officials declined to comment on her escape yesterday. However, reports reveal that in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the Surinamese drug mule scaled the prison fence after managing to escape the confines of her dormitory.

She then used multiple sheets that were tied together and thrown over the barbed- wire fence to facilitate her escape. Reports say after scaling the prison fence, she made her way into a waiting vehicle which sped away from the scene.

But soon after prison officials saw the sheet on the fence and contacted the police, who caught her before she fled to neighbouring Suriname.