Police are still searching for three inmates who escaped from a high security prison in southern Albania at the weekend after catching four others involved in the jailbreak.

Police have set up roadblocks across the country after the convicts, who are believed to be armed and potentially dangerous, escaped from the high-security prison in the village of Drenova on Saturday.

The prosecutor’s office meanwhile has issued 21 arrest warrants for prison guards at the detention centre who are suspected of abusing their authority in connection with the jailbreak.

According to the prosecutors, the escape was aided by several accomplices outside the prison who helped smuggle weapons into the detention centre.

Seven inmates, the majority serving life sentences for murder, got away but four were quickly recaptured.

“The discovery of the accomplices helped the manhunt leading to the arrest of one escaped inmate on Saturday and three others on Sunday,” the general prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Police special units have been deployed to the area where the escaped prisoners are believed to be hiding, while police forces in neighbouring Greece and Macedonia have also been notified.

“Citizens should be extra careful because the escaped inmates are armed and dangerous,” the interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

On Sunday, the general directorate of Albania’s prisons launched a major audit of four other high-security prisons, finding that illegal items like alcohol and mobile phones had been smuggled in.

Four chief prison guards and the director of intelligence at the general directorate were sacked and their cases referred to the prosecutor’s office on suspicion of abuse of office.

The escape is a major embarrassment for the centre-left government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who came into power two months ago, promising to strengthen the rule of law by fighting crime and corruption./balkaninsight/