Police probe into officer’s murder by fugitives shelved

An internal investigation into the death of a police officer three years ago during a manhunt for five fugitives has been shelved, without anyone on the force facing action for mistakes or neglect.

Kathimerini understands that the probe into the police’s handling of the search for the five Albanian men who escaped from Trikala Prison, concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that the officers in charge of the operation had breached normal procedure. The decision came despite testimony from a high-ranking officer suggesting that the search had been badly planned and that information about the stolen cars being used by the fugitives had not been properly communicated.

Police officer Giorgos Andritsopoulos, a 37-year-old father of two, was killed by the fugitives who shot at his patrol car with an AK-47 after ambushing officers in another vehicle near the village of Distomo in Viotia, north of Athens.