Alket Rizaj nabbed

Greek Police recaptured twice-escaped convict Alket Rizaj, on Monday.
He became one of Greece's two most wanted fugitives in February, after escaping with fellow convicted felon Vassilis Paleokostas in a carbon copy prison break by helicopter from Korydallos prison near Piraeus.

Rizaj was arrested in a coordinated operation by detectives and Greek Police's special forces unit EKAM at the town of Ano Souli in Marathon, northeast of Athens.
The fugitive's hideout was pinpointed by Police a few days earlier and was placed under surveillance.

Rizaj, an Albanian national, was arrested together with his female companion and another couple, who were all, living together in the hideout.
Police searched the premises to collect clues and evidence, while the four detainees were taken to police headquarters later in the day.

Paleokostas and Rizaj became Greece's most wanted fugitives for a second time on February 23, after escaping once again by helicopter, in an audacious repeat of their Hollywood-style escape from the same prison on June 4, 2006 during which they were spirited away from the courtyard of Korydallos prison near Piraeus, in a spectacular operation masterminded by Paleokostas' brother Nikos, then a fugitive from justice.

Vassilis Paleokostas was re-captured on August 2 in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, and was named by police as the mastermind of the abduction two months earlier of Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (SBBE) president and Alumil aluminum industry CEO George Mylonas outside Thessaloniki.

Mr Mylonas was later released after his family paid a hefty ransom.
Rizaj was captured three months after the June escape in the coastal village of Prodromos in Viotia prefecture, while fugitive Nikos Paleokostas was arrested a few weeks afterwards near Livadia, also in Viotia prefecture, after years of eluding police capture.

The police investigating the case believe that this second escape was organized by Rizaj, with money supplied by Vassilis Paleokostas.
They also said that a key role was played by a 35-year-old woman who chartered the helicopter from the private Interjet air charter company.

The woman, and her male accomplice, are both believed to be foreign nationals, possibly Albanian.

The woman, posing as a businesswoman, had approached Interject twice, chartering a helicopter twice on February 13 and 15, with which she flew to Itea.