South Africa's 'ultimate criminal' recaptured after 2 weeks on run

Dec 4, 2006, 11:30 GMT

Johannesburg - Police in South Africa on Monday said they had recaptured an escaped prisoner dubbed the 'ultimate criminal' two weeks after he made a daring escape from the country's most secure prison.

Annanais Mathe, a Mozambican national wanted for a host of crimes in South Africa, was shot and wounded before being arrested east of Johannesburg and returned to the C-Max prison in the city of Pretoria.

Mathe was located after a burglary at a house in the Johannesburg suburb of Craighall Park when the tracking device of a car he stole was activated, police officials said.

He abandoned the car and fled on foot when he realised he was being followed by an employee of the vehicle tracking company who fired shots during the chase.

Mathe's escape from C-Max, in which he reportedly smeared his body with petroleum jelly and slipped through a 20 by 60 centimetre window in his cell, left prison and police authorities red-faced.

A subsequent police hunt saw two men who resembled the 29-year-old criminal, including a priest, being arrested but later released.

Mathe was awaiting trial on 51 charges, including murder, attempted murder, rape, hijacking and armed robbery when he escaped from custody and earned the nickname 'Houdini.'

Authorities have described him as a dangerous and cruel former Mozamibican freedom fighter.

Police commissioner for the Gauteng Province where Pretoria is located on Monday said security at the C-Max prison and around Mathe, the first to escape from the facility, would be tightened.