Urgent manhunt for a prisoner who escaped at a FUNERAL

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 14:18, 25 April 2026 | Updated: 14:27, 25 April 2026 Police have launched a desperate manhunt for a prisoner who fled while attending his brother's funeral in Melbourne. Orijol Rukaj, 47, was supervised by corrections officers when he attended Keilor Cemetery in the city's north-west about 1.30pm on Saturday. Police allege the inmate escaped during the service and left the cemetery undetected. It's understood he was attending the funeral of his brother Sokol Rukaj, a well-known figure in Melbourne’s Albanian community and a stalwart of the North Sunshine Eagles FC, Outlaw Media reported. Rukaj is described as Caucasian, 170cm tall with short shaved black hair and a solid build. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, black suit and Asics runners. He is known to frequent the Sunbury and St Albans areas. An urgent manhunt is underway for escapee Orijol Rukaj The innate escaped while attending a funeral at Keilor Cemetery in Melbourne's north-east Rukaj is not believed to be violent but members of the public are urged to call triple-zero immediately if they see him. Anyone with other information about his whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.