All seven fugitives who escaped from a high security prison in southeastern Albania were apprehended by Albanian and Greek police
TIRANA, Nov. 26 – Authorities are investigating how seven prisoners were able to escape from a high-security detention center in southeastern Albania, sparking serious concerns about prison security in the country. All were apprehended within days of escape by authorities in Albania and Greece.
The seven men, mostly serving life sentences for murder, were seen as “armed and dangerous” and their escape launched a massive manhunt. Road blocks were set up and police special forces participated in the operation in and around the Drenova prison area, in Kor衠district, some 180 kilometers south-east of Tirana.
One of the men was captured hours after the incident riding in a taxi. The other three were captured the next day hiding in a warehouse in central Albania. Greek police arrested the other three in the area of Kastoria about 30 kilometer away from the Albanian border.
Officials in neighboring Greece and Macedonia had earlier been contacted in case the escapees tried to cross the nearby state borders.
The Interior Ministry said the men escaped around 7 p.m. The men had smuggled weapons inside the prison and threatened guards, who normally do not keep weapons inside the prison, before escaping under the cover of darkness with the aid of accomplices outside the prison who shot at the watchtowers. An investigation into the escape revealed that several procedures had not been properly followed by the prison guards, the Interior Ministry said.
The tree men caught together on the second day, among the most dangerous convicts in Albania, were found at in the town of Prrenjas at an abandoned warehouse, some 80 kilometers away from the prison. They did not exchange fire with police despite being armed. The three of them were seen on television coverage walk calmly out surrounded by police forces in SWAT uniforms. No one was injured.
There were early hints that the other three convicts might have crossed the border with Greece. A shepherd had told police he had seen them walk through the Gramoz Mountain area. One of the men was injured in an exchange of fire with Greek police before being captured. The other two did not resist, media reports.
Police in Albania have arrested three other people who are suspected of being collaborators in the escape, assisting from outside the prison. Investigators are questioning prison guards and officials. Twenty three of them were detained for allegedly neglecting regulations. Two other senior officials at the justice ministry and police administration were also detained in Tirana. Several officials have been suspended from duty.
Police said an early investigation revealed that the escape was planed well in advance. One of the inmates caught Sunday, was supplied with two automatic rifles and two pistols months ahead of time, hidden in a refrigerator which prison authorities had allowed him to keep.
The Drenova Prison houses 320 convicts and is one of Albania’s highest security detention centers. It has been built with the help of EU funding.
Justice Minister Nasip Naco has called Albania’s prison system “rotten and riddled with corruption,” promising “radical reforms within it.”
Escape becomes point of political contention
The prison escape immediately turned into a hot political issue as the opposition and the new government accused each other of being responsible for creating the conditions where such a blunder could occur.
The opposition Democratic Party accused the governing Socialists of being unable to keep prisons and security under control. The former justice minister, Eduard Halimi, said that no inmate had managed to flee while they have been in charge in the last eight years. The Democrats accused the Socialist-led government of being weak and unable to manage the prison system.
The Socialist-led government, on their side, hinted that the plan of the inmates was well-organized and it was implemented partly under the nose of the previous government. They said that the new prison authorities were not told of a previous warning to the former prison head on the possibility of such an incident.
On the same day, Tuesday, authorities arrested two top officials at the justice ministry and police department accusing them of abuse of power.
The government is planning the reform in the detention system with a legal package aiming to improve the service in the penitentiary system. It will amend the law on rights and treatment of prisoners and pre-trial detainees as well as the law on prison police.
A main goal is to eliminate corruption, to guarantee the basic rights of the convicts “combined with comprehensive measures to tighten security in our detention centers,” said Naco.
