Greek Convicts Stage Daring Prison Break—Again

Fugitives use helicopter to escape Athens facility, as they did in 2006

By Nick McMaster

Posted Feb 22, 2009 2:34 PM CST

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Greek Convicts Stage Daring Prison Break—Again — Police forensic experts investigate a helicopter used in the escape of convicts Vassilis Paleokostas and Alket Rizaj from Athens' high-security Korydallos prison, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/PHASMA, Mihalis Karayiannis)

Two Greek criminals escaped the most secure prison in Athens for the second time, the BBC reports. Vassilis Paleokostas and Alket Rizai fled the Korydallos prison after accomplices picked them up using a helicopter they landed on the building’s roof. The escape is similar to their 2006 breakout, when the pair was picked up by helicopter from the prison’s exercise yard.

Police today found the helicopter used to break Paleokostas and Rizai out this time abandoned by a highway near a mountain range in central Greece that the pair have used for a hideout before. Police are expecting the convicts to try to free Paleokostas’ brother Nikos, who orchestrated the 2006 escape and is now in prison himself.

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