Manama: Bahraini police on Wednesday re-arrested two convicts who had escaped from the Jaw prison, prompting the dismissal of the Gulf kingdom’s prisons chief, the interior ministry said.

“Police arrested at dawn today those who escaped from the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre on Monday,” the police said on its Twitter account. The two were caught at a house in Saar alongside a group of people wanted in security cases, it said.

According to local daily Al Ayam site, nine other people were arrested alongside Ridha Al Ghasra and Hussain Jassem Al Banna whose escape had mobilised the interior ministry and caused organisational restructuring.

The Reformation and Rehabilitation Directorate was moved under the direct supervision of the ministry’s undersecretary while the Director of Reformation and Rehabilitation was transferred to the Public Security Presidency.

A massive manhunt was launched and several checkpoints were set up in major areas to track the pair who reportedly escaped at around 3am on Monday.

Their escape was discovered at around 6am and the two convicts are believed to have made their way away through the adjacent sea.

Al Ghasra, from the village of Bani Jamra, to the west of the capital Manama, has been jailed for a combined total of 80 years after he was convicted in several terror-related cases. The last sentence of 15 years in prison and a BD1,000 fine was pronounced on February 16 after he was tried for illegally smuggling and possessing weapons and ammunition.

The inmate is yet to face more cases in court, including allegedly taking part in the explosion of a car near the Bahrain Financial Centre, in the commercial heart of Manama.

It was the second time that Al Ghasra was caught after escaping from prison.

On May 8, 2012, he managed to run away from the Dry Dock detention centre. Security forces arrested him one year later in Bani Jamra. Police said that he had a gun when he was apprehended.

- with inputs from AFP