KHON KAEN - Two teenagers have told police they escaped from a juvenile detention centre in Muang district because they were being frequently attacked by a gang of older inmates.
The police on Thursday detained two 16-year-old boys stopped at a traffic checkpoint when they could not show driving licences or their motorcycle's registration handbook.
The two boys confessed they escaped from the juvenile detention centre where they had been sent to serve a three-month term in late February for motorcycle theft.
They said they planned their escape because their lives were made extremely unpleasant by a gang inside the centre known as the Thai Kanok group, comprised of older boys who attacked them frequently.
They initially tried to escape by climbing over the electric fence on the north side of the centre, but were unsuccessful and both suffered electric shocks. On their next escape attempt, they put a blanket over the electric wire and were able to flee the centre on April 21.
The two boys said they wandered around public parks without visiting their homes because they were afraid of being sent back to the same juvenile centre.
They then stole three motorcycles. The first two ran out of fuel so they left them in the woods and stole another from an apartment building in Khon Kaen municipality. They used it to go to Nakhon Ratchasima to seek assistance from their cousins.
Police said they found the first two stolen motorcycles. The two teenagers will be charged with theft.