Police have arrested two of the eight inmates who escaped from Dolpa District Prison on Saturday, in Rukum West.

The two were arrested at around 10:30am on Tuesday by a five-member police team led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Buddhiram Oli, deployed from the Chaurjahari Base Camp and Gotamkot Police Post, Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh Rathore said.

The team intercepteda  jeep which was travelling from Kholi Bagar in ward 6 of Aathbiskot Municipality towards Radi in ward 9. The two men tried to flee during the vehicle check but were taken into custody, police said.

The arrested men have been identified as 32-year-old Ram Bahadur BK of Aathbiskot Municipality-10 in Rukum West and 28-year-old Resham Rana of Kumakh Rural Municipality-5 in Salyan. Both were serving prison sentences in rape cases.

They have been taken to Gotamkot Police Post for further investigation and legal proceedings, police said.

The two were among eight inmates who escaped from the prison in Thulibheri Municipality-3 of Dolpa at around 6am on Saturday. The inmates had dug a tunnel beneath the prison compound to make their escape.

A preliminary investigation found that they had damaged structures along the prison's inner wall and outer compound. The tunnel, dug around a septic tank, was about 3.5 metres long and four to five feet deep, Chief District Officer Junu Hamal said.

The escape took place just three days after a new official was assigned to oversee security at the facility. The previous duty in-charge had been replaced following an incident involving drug trafficking inside the prison.

The incident raised questions about security monitoring and prison management. Hamal said the inmates may have studied the security arrangements and identified weaknesses before escaping. Authorities were reviewing the duties of security personnel and inspecting the prison's CCTV system.

Of the eight escapees, five were serving sentences in rape cases and three were involved in theft cases. Six were serving prison sentences, while two were being held pending trial.

Besides BK and Rana, the other three inmates serving sentences in rape cases were Kal Prasad Rokaya of Tripurasundari Municipality-7 and Hari Bahadur Budha, also known as Dhan Bahadur Budha, of Tripurasundari-4 in Dolpa, and Yagya BK of Barekot Rural Municipality-1 in Jajarkot.

Kapil Pariyar, also known as Kailash, of Nalagad Municipality-9 in Jajarkot, was serving a sentence in a theft case. Tilak Bhandari of Aathbiskot Municipality-5 and Aadesh Bhandari of ward 3 of the same municipality in Rukum West were being held pending trial in theft cases.

The prison had 17 inmates and pre-trial detainees before the escape. Authorities discovered that eight were missing during a headcount at 6am on Saturday.

Police have launched a search operation to locate the remaining six escapees. A three-member committee led by Police Inspector Binay Kumar Singh has also been formed to investigate the escape and identify security lapses.