[FelikTen]

Facebook fugitive caught



Escapee Justin Grant has been busy Facebooking while on the run .Picture from his Facebook page.

The escapee dubbed the Facebook fugitive has been caught. Justin Grant, 21, has been on the run since Thursday last week when he slipped away from corrective services custody at a hospital in Townsville, north Queensland.

Visiting the hospital for treatment to a self-inflicted hand injury, he was handcuffed, barefoot and wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Corrective Services' on it when he escaped. Police closed in on Grant just after 5pm on Friday in a carpark at a fast food restaurant in Idalia, in Townsville's south.

"The arrest was the result of extensive intelligence and surveillance by police in Townsville," a police spokesman told AAP. He was surrounded and "surrendered". "Once he was arrested he didn't struggle," the spokesman said. Grant is assisting police with inquiries at the Townsville Police Station.

He is likely to be charged with escape lawful custody. Grant purportedly taunted police over the last week by adding friends on his Facebook site and posting new messages. "Ha u watch ile hav to hand myself in before they cach me," was a message posted on Wednesday. But Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser said there is a chance the post was a "clever ruse".

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser told ABC radio on Friday that one avenue being investigated by police was whether the site was being run by someone else as a trick. "One of the suggestions here, which I know was raised by police yesterday, was whether or not it is in fact the fugitive running the Facebook site," Mr Fraser said.