A German prisoner sent to a high security prison for fraud, managed to set himself free by hiding in a cardboard box and posting himself to freedom.

Max Friedner's exploit duplicates the feat by a Bosnian prisoner who escaped prison by wrapping himself in a parcel.

The 28-year-old Friedner was currently serving his sentence at the maximum prison facility in Darmstadt. Prison officials say they discovered the prisoner missing after the driver of the mail truck noticed a hole in the box when the mail arrived at the sorting depot.

Reports said it was the second time that a convicted felon escaped prison using the mail system.

In December, a prisoner in Austria escaped from a jail in Graz by posting himself out in a large box that was supposed to contain lamp posts.

Bosnian Muradif Hasanbegovic, 36, was serving a seven-year sentence for robbery in the Karlau prison, near Graz. He escaped from the workshop where he helped package and post parts for lampposts.

The man packed himself up in a parcel, and other convicts loaded him onto a lorry. Once clear of the prison he broke out of the parcel, jumped off the back of the lorry and fled.