Plea for jailbreakers to return
Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras yesterday called upon escaped convict Vassilis Palaiocostas and his brother, wanted bank robber Nikos Palaiocostas, to turn themselves in after the former’s spectacular breakout from Korydallos prison on Sunday. Meanwhile, it emerged that authorities had suspected that Palaiocostas may attempt to escape from Korydallos but had refrained from transferring him. «The game’s up. I officially invite the Palaiocostas brothers to give themselves up and make use of the legal options open to them,» Polydoras said. «Sooner or later they will be arrested,» he added, stressing that special consideration would be given to the fact that neither brother has been charged with murder. The minister defended the decision by Korydallos guards not to shoot down the helicopter in which Palaiocostas escaped from Korydallos with a fellow inmate on Sunday, contradicting Justice Minister Anastassis Papaligouras, who had criticized the guards for holding their fire. «If I was a guard, I would not have fired. It was not a pleasant development but there is no need for panic. We should assess benefits and risks,» he said. Questioned about reports that authorities had anticipated a possible escape attempt, Polydoras stressed that the convict’s transfer had been deemed too dangerous. Meanwhile, police said they had identified the two men who were in the helicopter that collected Palaiocostas through CCTV footage from a rental firm which had also hired the men a helicopter a week earlier. Police believe that a foreign woman who visited Palaiocostas in prison may be one of two foreign women who had accompanied the two men during the first helicopter flight.
