Greek police have launched a manhunt for a 41-year-old Albanian national who escaped from a prison transport van in Serres on Friday night, after armed accomplices staged what officials are calling a cinematic ambush outside a hospital. The search also targets the gunmen who freed him.
Investigators have found a crashed vehicle on a dirt side road close to the hospital, with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and bullets inside. Police are also examining a second vehicle, found completely burned out in the area of Volvi, for a possible link to the escape.
A second inmate, who was being held in the same transport van, reportedly also tried to flee during the operation. Prison staff pushed him back inside the vehicle, and he did not get away with his fellow prisoner.
How the escape unfolded
The escape took place at around 23:30 on Friday, when the transport vehicle was parked in the hospital courtyard, outside the psychiatric wing. At that moment, the van held the prisoner and two people from the prison's external guard service.
Accomplices of the 41-year-old then arrived in vehicles that resembled police cars. Evidence gathered so far does not show that the attackers wore police uniforms or presented themselves as members of OPKE, the Greek police's Crime Prevention and Suppression Team, a unit known for using unmarked patrol vehicles. However, one of the vehicles is reported to have been a Nissan Navara pickup, a model similar to those used by OPKE, and it carried a small beacon light.
That detail led the guards escorting the prisoner to initially assume the men were police officers. The situation changed within seconds, when the occupants got out of the vehicle carrying Kalashnikov rifles.
At gunpoint, the armed men immobilized the guards and helped the 41-year-old escape. They also took the service weapon of one of the prison officers, according to the same information. They then got back into their vehicles and disappeared.
Two other inmates were inside the hospital at the time of the escape, having been transported there under separate escort.
Who is the escaped prisoner
The escaped man is an Albanian national, 41 years old. According to reports, he was arrested the previous year by officers from the Organized Crime division over an attempted homicide case in Thessaloniki, in an incident that took place at a canteen. He is also reported to have been involved in cases involving weapons and drugs.
Manhunt continues
After the escape, authorities raised the alarm and launched extensive searches for both the 41-year-old and the armed men who took part in the organized escape operation. As of the latest reports, none of them have been located.
Video footage of the incident was sourced from the outlet ThessPost.
