ISLAMABAD, March 23: Four Afghan nationals charged with auto-thefts escaped from the lock-up of Kural police station early Friday, police said.

After the incident, six policemen on night duty in the police station were suspended and taken into custody after registration of criminal cases against them.

Police said two accomplices of the Afghans remained in their custody as they were not aware of the break-away plan.

Eight accused, including a six-member gang of car lifters, were detained in the lock-up. The policemen deployed at the lockup and the gates of the police station showed ignorance about the fleeing of the accused.

The police said the officials either had left their duty spots or slept. During inspection of the lock-up, the police found a 1x1 foot gap in the window which might have been made by the accused to escape. Later, they reached the veranda between the lock-up and the room of senior officers and crawled out.

The remaining four inmates in the lock-up said they remained talking with each other till early hours of Friday and later slept, the police quoted them as saying, adding they denied observing any movement or sound.

The duty officer, an assistant sub-inspector, a moharar, a head constable and three constables, including the guards at the lock-up and gate, were arrested on suspicion. A case was also registered against them on the charge of negligence and helping the escapees. The escaped Afghans were also booked in a similar case for breaking the lock-up.

The police said it was yet to be established whether the policemen had deliberately helped the accused escape or created circumstances unintentionally which led to their escape.

The Kural police took the custody of the four Afghans along with two others from Adiala Jail on March 20 in connection with auto-theft cases in its limits. Earlier, they were arrested by Rawalpindi police for their involvement in six car lifting cases and after investigation they were sent to jail on judicial remand.