Masked men in Sweden freed a convicted murderer when he was taken to the dentist, DPA reported, citing Swedish radio and prison officials.
According to Swedish radio, the escapee is a 17-year-old convicted of murder.
Prison authorities said the youth was due to be taken from a correctional facility to see a dentist in the town of Södertälä, southwest of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
When the prison car arrived in front of the dentist’s office, another car pulled up next to it, prison officials said. The three prison officers guarding the young man were threatened with weapons.
According to police, the threat was made by at least two masked men, who then got into the car with the young man and drove off. The police began searching for the escaped prisoner and his accomplices by helicopter.
This is the second such case in Sweden within a few months. In February in the city of Norröping, another prisoner was released when he was transported from prison to hospital.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the release shocking.
“I think it’s scandalous that a person who may have killed another person could just get away with the help of armed accomplices,” Kristershon told the Swedish parliament.
