The detained suspect Eric Cañedo took advantage of the situation when SPO4 Jose Mangaron left his desk for the comfort room.
When Mangaron returned, he found the detention cell already opened and Cañedo no longer inside. Upon checking the area, Mangaron saw a small iron wire, which he believed the escapee could have used to open the padlock.
A manhunt operation led by SPO4 Ricardo Andales, was immediately dispatched to Cañedo's address in barangay Labangon but he was not there.
By 8:45 a.m., policemen spotted Cañedo walking along a street in barangay Mambaling, resulting to his recapture.
Cañedo has been detained for allegedly snatching the cellular phone and wristwatch of Junrey Cañosa, a resident of barangay Guadalupe, who was last Monday evening waiting for a ride home near a waiting shed in Osmeña Boulevard.
Cañedo had two companions at the time but he was the only one caught while hiding in one of the houses at the interior part of Kamagayan. He said his companions eluded arrest but the snatched items were with them. - Flor Z. Perolina