Prisoner caught trying to escape jail inside lover's suitcase

A Venezuelan woman has tried to break her boyfriend out of jail by squeezing him in a pink suitcase and wheeling him out.

Antonieta Robles Saouda, 25, travelled to the Jose Antonio Anzoategui prison with her six-year-old daughter to visit her lover, Ibrain Jose Vargas Garcia, and planned to leave as a united family.

After meeting Garcia, she put the audacious escape plan into action with the jailbird stuffed in her hot pink suitcase, reports the New York Post.

But the break-out bid was foiled when guards noticed her struggling to push the overstuffed case.

They halted her and on unzipping the suitcase were shocked to discover Garcia curled up inside. He had contorted his long lanky frame inside surrounded by the child's fluffy toys.

Garcia was immediately put back behind bars, where he is already serving a 10-year sentence for robbery.

Saouda was also arrested and their daughter taken into care by social services.

Photographs of the couple appearing sad and wearing handcuffs beside the suitcase were taken by prison authorities and have proved popular on social media.