A convicted murderer who escaped Korydallos Prison in a helicopter three months ago was recaptured yesterday morning in a beach house in Viotia, north of Attica, in an operation involving 25 armed officers, police said.

The officers raided a first-floor apartment in the village of Prodromos and arrested 32-year-old Alket Rizai without any shots being fired. His 31-year-old cousin, who rents the apartment, was also arrested.

Police found an Uzi submachine gun, a handgun and a grenade in the apartment. They said that Rizai had realized officers had surrounded the house but did not attempt to fire on them. The Albanian national briefly threatened to commit suicide before giving himself up.

Rizai escaped from Korydallos in June when a helicopter landed in the prison yard to fly him and Vassilis Palaiocostas, the brother of Greece’s most wanted robber, Nikos Palaiocostas, to freedom.

Police believe that Rizai has not had any contact with Palaiocostas since the pair escaped.