Escaped convict killed in shootout with Greek police

An Albanian who was allegedly among a group of convicts who in March escaped from a prison in central Greece was killed early today in a shootout with police, a police source said.
One policeman was wounded as a result of the dawn clash in the mountainous northern region of Epire which borders Albania, the source said, requesting anonymity.
The source did not reveal the name of the suspect, but said he was one of the 11 mostly Albanian inmates who shot their way out of a prison in the central town of Trikala on March 23, wounding two guards.

In 2008, guards at Trikala foiled a bid by Panayotis Vlastos, one of the masterminds in the kidnapping of a Greek shipping magnate, to escape from the prison by helicopter.
In that incident the helicopter made an emergency landing in the prison courtyard after it was caught in the crossfire between the armed men on board and prison guards.