Three inmates have made a daring escape from a high-security jail in eastern India using desserts laced with sedatives and bed sheets to abseil down the walls, a prison official said Monday.

The trio of Bangladeshis incarcerated at Alipore Jail in Kolkata remain at large after pulling off the audacious prison break over the weekend.

West Bengal state's prison director Arun Gupta said the runaways made their dash after drugging their jail guards and fellow inmates with spiked dessert.

“The trio mixed sedatives in the sweets brought from the jail canteen, and served these to inmates and some prison guards on Saturday night,” said Gupta.

They then cut through the bars on their cell window and used bed sheets knotted into a length to descend the six-metre (20 feet) walls to the ground below.

Their absence was not detected until prison wardens conducted the morning head count, Gupta said. “It appears guards on the watch towers were sleeping when the three escaped. Three wardens have been suspended,” he said.

A hunt is underway for the fugitives.

In 2016, eight suspected members of a banned Islamist group escaped from a jail in Bhopal in central India after slitting the throat of a prison guard.