World Scene: Australia

Cuffed suspect steals police car

Australian police were left red-faced by a handcuffed man who escaped in a patrol car yesterday while two officers were inspecting evidence outside. The man, wanted over a series of break-ins, escaped custody in Brisbane, in the northern state of Queensland, just minutes after he was handcuffed and placed in the back of the unmarked police car.

"Police then began examining the contents of a bag found in his possession. They did that at the rear of the police car," Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart told reporters, naming the suspect as Mark Robert Nolan, aged 29.