SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Authorities in North Macedonia say 17 police officers serving at a prison in the country’s capital Skopje were detained Monday on suspicion of assisting in the separate escapes last year of two inmates, including a murder convict.

The office of public prosecution said six of the officers are suspected of involvement in the escape last October by the murder convict during a scheduled visit to a private hospital.

“Accompanied by two of the suspected prison officers, the (inmate) visited a smoking area. After about half an hour, the suspected prison officials left, allowing the convict to leave the room and escape,” the prosecution office said in a statement Monday.

It said the two officers and their four on-duty colleagues had failed to report the escape to their superiors at the city’s Idrizovo prison. The incident was later discovered by other police officers who reported to a separate department, and the convict remains at large.