Two of the three suspected criminals who escaped from a holding cell in Thebes police station early Friday had been arrested by last night.

The first man was recaptured in the village of Vagia in Viotia, north of Athens, on Saturday. The second suspect was caught later the same day in the southern Athens district of Moschato.

The two men as well as the third suspect are Albanians, arrested three months ago and believed to be part of a 15-member gang of robbers active in central Greece and the Peloponnese. They were taken to Thebes on Thursday and were due to appear before a prosecutor the following day.

Four of the six police officers on duty that night, as well as the local police chief, were suspended after the suspects escaped by using a file to cut through the bars of their cell window.