The Greek authorities have found the tracks of wanted recidivist Vassilis Paleokostas who had escaped from prison by helicopter like in a Hollywood film. Investigation results show that he had been involved in the bloody confrontation with policemen in the area of Livadia in 2011.
At that time Paleokostas had been moving in the region between Livadia and Arachova and, when a police patrol stood in his way, he did not hesitate to open fire at the policemen with a machine gun, wounding one of them in the leg.
Police sources are not hiding the fact that the authorities are concerned because both Vassilis Paleokostas and Nikos Maziotis, who has been charged with involvement in the terrorist group "Revolutionary Struggle", are at liberty. They fear that they could join forces and organize a large-scale terrorist attack.
They consider as a possible link between the two a theft of two cars in Thessaloniki, one of which had been found burnt in Maziotis’ neighbourhood and the other after a robbery in northern Greece organized by Paleokostas. "It is possible that this "cooperation" will continue at the level of organized crime and at the level of terrorism," they state.
Old photo of Paleokostas
The shooting between Paleokostas and the police patrol began when the policemen established that the registration plate belonged to another car. A police operation involving the patrols which had been in the area was immediately organized. The policemen were able to stop the car shortly after Livadia but then the man, sitting to the right, started shooting at them with a Kalashnikov gun, from a distance of about 100 metres.
The policemen responded with fire but he managed to wound one of them. There were 23 cartridges fired on the site of the shooting.
Several hours later the car was found abandoned near the village of Charonia in the Viotia area. The attackers had stolen another vehicle from the region and had disappeared in an unknown direction.
Members of the anti-terrorism service who investigated the abandoned car had found Vassilis Paleokostas’ fingerprints in it. Several days later, the prosecutor’s office in Livadia issued an arrest warrant for him.
The Greek police have made public seven photos of the car and the driver. The authorities are looking for information to identify him, suggesting that he is Vassilis Paleokostas.
He is the fugitive for whom the highest award in Greece will be paid. The cash reward for the person who will provide information about his whereabouts is 1 million euro. He is wanted not only for robbing banks and escaping by helicopter from the prison in Korydallos, but also for involvement in a terrorist organization. His fingerprint had been found on a parcel bomb sent in June 2010 to the Minister of Citizen Protection at the time, Michalis Chrysochoidis, which had killed his assistant George Vassilakis.
Several days ago, the police issued a new arrest warrant for Paleokostas on charges of a series of attempted murders, illegal carrying of a weapon and other offences committed during the shooting in Livadia.
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