When 3 prisoners escaped from a Hong Kong jail: intrepid forgers were recaptured after daring 1970 plot
- After 2 months of planning their escape from Chi Ma Wan open prison, the Italian and Filipino prisoners were recaptured ‘exhausted and hungry’ days later
“The three foreign prisoners who escaped from the Chi Ma Wan open prison last Sunday morning were all re-captured by combined detectives and Village Penetration Patrols of the Marine Police yesterday,” reported the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, August 19, 1970. “The trio were found suffering from insect bites and minor injuries received during their attempted escape.”
The three, serving a four-year sentence for possessing forged banknotes, “appeared exhausted and hungry when found by […] tracker dogs. They were later taken by police launches to the Marine Police Headquarters, before being sent to Queen Mary Hospital”.
The next day, the Post reported that “tight security measures are being maintained around the wards where the men are undergoing treatment. The prisoners, two Italians, Aurelio Spacholtz (46), and Marco Massini (28), and a Filipino, Antonio Riva (38), escaped last Sunday and were recaptured on Tuesday”.
The day after that, the Post followed up, writing that the escape “had been planned two months ahead [and] all sorts of preparations including transport, food supply and forged passports, had been carefully arranged”.
“The detailed plan of escape was disclosed by the police yesterday during the trial of a Filipino businessman charged with assisting the prisoners in their escape. The defendant, Alberto Silva Dizon (48), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice by arranging the supply of provisions and transport to the three men who were planning to break free from the prison.”
On November 6, the Post reported that “the Chief Justice, Sir Ivo Rigby, reduced the one-year prison terms imposed […] to six months.
“Sir Ivo said the one-year terms had been ‘unduly severe’.”
