The National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) have sought help from INTERPOL to find two prisoners that broke out of jail three years ago.
National MP Paul Moniz said investigations showed that the two men had fled across the border to Indonesia.
As a result, he said PNTL now needed INTERPOL assistance to locate the men.
However, if the escapees were still in Timor he said police had an obligation to recapture them.
“Police should find them because [Timor] is just a small country,” he said.
Juga Gama, a convicted drug smuggler, and Agostino Salsinha, who was imprisoned for murder, broke out of Becora jail in 2013 along with 24 other prisoners.
Twenty-two of those have since been recaptured, with the men the only two still at large.
Director of the Timor-Leste Human Rights Association (HAK) Manuel Monteiro said although police were committed to finding the two fugitives, they still faced many problems, including limited human resources and facilities.
The Criminal Investigation Service unit only has six personnel, compared to the Atambua unit in Indonesia, which has 100 personnel on staff, he said.
Another problem facing police was that Timor-Leste still did not have any legal basis to repatriate its citizens who had committed crimes and then left the country.
Monteiro therefore called on the PNTL to work with law enforcement authorities in neighboring Indonesia to try and determine the whereabouts of the prisoners.
In response to the concerns raised, PNTL Second Commander Commissioner Faustino da Costa said they recently dispatched a representative from the Criminal Investigation Service (CIS) to meet the Atambua police chief to discuss the issue.
“Indonesia will help us to find them (the prisoners),” said da Costa.
He said that although the men had left the country, the PNTL would find a way to bring them to justice.
