A group of bungling prisoners tunnelled their way out of jail only to be met by a team of police officers who were training outside.
Twenty daring suspected criminals were seen realising their error in real time as they emerged from a hole in the wall onto the police headquarters training course in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
The officers were seen helping the red-faced inmates through the tight gap in the wall before leading them back inside the prison, Britain’s Daily Mail reported.
The situation became nervy for the group of some 30 police who were not carrying weapons.
But police later confirmed that ‘everything is now under control’, noting three inmates needed treatment for minor injuries sustained during their botched escape.
The clip of the not-so-great escape shows several red-faced men in yellow boiler suits being apprehended after burrowing through the outer wall.
As the tunnel opening was so small, the escapees were only able to squeeze straight into the arms of the waiting cops.
Members of the Bolivarian National Guard, the Bolivarian National Police Corps, Civil Protection and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service were all reportedly called in to help defuse the situation, according to El Sol de Puebla.
The mayor of Maracaibo, Rafael Ramírez Colina, said later that order had been restored.
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