Culprits break the hooligan omerta
Eight more arrests made for last week’s murder of 19-year-old, police seeking another two suspects
Court sources stated on Monday that the soccer hooligans arrested in connection with the murder last week of 19-year-old Alkis Kambanos are breaking their silence about what happened on that fateful night, giving investigators a better understanding of how the event unfolded.
Indicatively, police sources said Monday that they “have a clear picture of who did what.”
The additional eight young people who were arrested on Sunday night in Thessaloniki will reportedly start appearing before a prosecutor Wednesday until Friday.
The arrests were made on the basis of warrants issued by the investigating authorities on Sunday morning. They face prosecutions for one homicide and two attempted murders.
They appeared before an investigative magistrate on Monday and were given a deadline to prepare their defense.
They are seven Greeks and an Albanian citizen, aged between 19 and 22, who were identified as participants in the deadly attack in the Harilaou district shortly after midnight last Monday.
Three more people have been identified for the same case, including a 23-year-old man of Albanian origin who was arrested last Wednesday, as well as two others who have so far eluded arrest. One of the latter, a 20-year-old, is said to have fled to Albania just a day after the murder, and an international arrest warrant has been issued.
The second individual that police are looking for is a 20-year-old Greek who, unlike the others, lives in Athens.
All those implicated are fans of the PAOK soccer club of Thessaloniki and members of various fan associations.
Six of the eight arrested on Sunday have had run-ins with the law in the past, related to the possession of illegal weapons, causing damage and public disturbance, and incidents at stadiums.
The 23-year-old who was arrested on Wednesday and the other man who managed to escape to Albania had attacked two Aris fans in March, 2019, at the same location where Kambanos was murdered.
The 23-year-old was identified as the person who hit Kambanos on the head with a crowbar. Moreover the fingerprints of another among those arrested on Sunday were found on the knife that dealt the fatal blow to Kambanos’ thigh, hitting an artery and causing him to bleed to death.
