German police said the second of the two men was arrested in the small town of Schmerbeck in the upper Rhine region, five days after breaking out of a prison in the far-western German town of Aachen late last week.

Police spokesman Christoph Gilles said the man, convicted murderer Peter Paul Michalski, was found riding a bicycle and carrying a weapon.

"He remained unhurt during the course of the arrest, as did the officers involved," Gilles said.

Michalski's arrest ends an intensive manhunt throughout the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The other escapee, Michael Heckhoff, who is serving a life sentence for attempted murder, was captured by police on Sunday.

It is still unclear how the two men, both serving their sentences in a maximum security prison, managed to pull off their daring escape.

The sequence of events

The two men escaped from the prison in the western German city of Aachen on Thursday night, injuring a guard and a gatekeeper before fleeing in a taxi toward the city of Cologne. They were armed with two pistols and 16 rounds on ammunition, sparking a major manhunt.

The next day they hijacked the car of a 19-year-old student, forcing her to drive them north to the city of Essen. After running out petrol, the two abandoned the car and the woman, leaving her unhurt.

On Saturday, the two broke into the home of a middle-aged couple in Essen, where they stayed to eat, drink, have showers and watch television.

In the early evening, the men forced the couple to drive them to nearby Muelheim in their black BMW. They let the husband and wife out of the car after a few hours before driving on.

On Sunday, the car was discovered in the Muelheim region and police were able to apprehend Heckhoff.

The search for Michalski continued on Monday, with locals in the nearby town of Guetersloh reporting having seen him in the area with a weapon. He was apprehended on Tuesday about 140 kilometers away from Guetersloh.

In the meantime, police have arrested a prison guard in Aachen who is suspected of providing the inmates with keys and guns to pass through five security doors, enabling their escape.

ca/dpa/AFP

Editor: Kyle James