Dhaka, Aug. 26 -- Inspector General (IG) of Prisons Brigadier General Syed Md. Motaher Hossain today said more than 700 prisoners out of over 2200 who escaped during the July Uprising are still fugitive.

"Of the fugitives, nine are militants and 69 others are death row and life sentence-awarded convicts," he said while responding to a question from the journalists in a briefing at the Prison Directorate Headquarters in the capital's Bakshibazar area. He also said that 29 firearms have not been recovered so far among the weapons looted at that time.

"Law enforcement agencies are working to recover the weapons and arrest the runaway prisoners," he said.

In response to a journalist's question about BNP leaders' allegation that the party's...