It was almost the perfect plan.
Thanapat Mayod, 37, was serving a sentence for theft in a prison in the city of Pattaya, Thailand, when he started feeling pain in his private parts, according to Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post.
Videos by VICE
Before being put in prison, Mayod underwent a series of injections to enlarge his penis. But last week Mayod was admitted to a local hospital after his genitals became severely infected. At some point while in the hospital, Mayod came up with a plan to escape. He called his wife, who allegedly then smuggled in a pair of pliers.
On Friday, Mayod underwent surgery to deal with his infected genitals, then hours later, escaped. Mayod allegedly used the pliers to cut through his ankle chains at around 2 a.m. Videos later published online showed a hunched-over Mayod, limping towards a nearby elevator.
Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.
When hospital officials noticed that he was gone from his 7th floor room, authorities immediately began hunting for him. They focused their search on the surrounding buildings and words, reportedly believing he couldn’t have gotten far because he still had a urine tube inserted in his penis.
Prison officials announced his capture on Sunday, about 28 hours later, on the roof of a nearby building. Mayod reportedly told police that after fleeing the hospital, he ran into the nearby forest and threw the pliers away. He then climbed a nearby power pole onto the roof of the hospital psychiatry ward only roughly 70 feet from where he escaped. He stayed there, hiding under a black bag reportedly in agonizing pain, until he was discovered.
Before his capture, his wife reportedly admitted to smuggling in the pliers and told authorities that he escaped because he missed his family.
Mayod still had 13 months remaining on his sentence, but with new charges related to the escape, he could face an additional three years behind bars, according to The Bangkok Post. His wife was also charged with aiding his escape and could face up to five years for her role in the crime.
