Police arrest Greek prison escapee

TIRANA, Jan. 25 – Police near Tirana have arrested an Albanian man who was part of a major escape from prison in neighboring Greece last year.
Ilir Kupa was arrested Saturday morning in Kashar, near the capital Tirana. The car he was traveling in ran into a police checkpoint on a secondary road linking Tirana with Durres. Kupa fired a shot in the air before giving himself up. Police believe that one or two people in the car with managed to get away in the darkness.
Kupa is among Greece’s most wanted men after he and ten other Albanians escaped from a central Greece prison in March 2013. Marjan Kola, considered the escapees’ ringleader, was shot dead in a clash with Greek police near the Albanian border last July. Kupa was said to be with Kola at the time.
The police are investigating whether Kupa is a suspect in other crimes as well. They had set a 10,000-euro reward for information on Kupa and his associates who were believed to be hiding in Albania.
Kupa has been kept under arrest in an Albanian jail, and, according to the local media, four Greek police officers have questioned him. Albanian authorities are preparing documentation needed for his extradition to Greece.
Kupa told Albanian police he did not want to return to Greece, and yelled out to the media professing his innocence and maltreatment at the hand of the Greek authorities during his brief initial appearance before an Albanian judge on charges of illegal possession of a weapon.
Kupa said in court he was ready to stand trial on the change, but that he feared he would be mistreated again if he was sent to Greece.
Kupa denied he had committed any crime in Albania other than illegal weapon possession. Earlier media reported that Kupa was being investigated involved in other crimes, mentioning the Santa theft before the New Year at a market near the capital, His lawyer said that Kupa kept the weapon to defend himself against the Greek police.
It is not clear how much time the extradition procedures could take.