, Aug. 18 -- A total of 1,557 of the 2,247 prisoners who escaped from various jails during the July mass uprising have since been arrested and returned to custody while 690 remain at large, said Director General of the Department of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Md Motahar Hossain on Tuesday.

"We have applied to the court to obtain information about them," he said at a press conference at the Department of Prisons headquarters in Old Dhaka.

He said 826 prisoners escaped from Narsingdi Jail alone and the whereabouts of 166 of them remain unknown.

Asked about militant prisoners who escaped during the unrest, the director general said nine listed militants fled from different prisons. Of them, six have been rearrested and returned to custody whil...