Letter-bomb suspect caught clearing weapons, explosives from safe house

A 29-year-old man who was arrested in the early hours of Saturday in central Athens on suspicion of having sent the letter bombs that injured former premier Lucas Papademos in May and an employee at the International Monetary Fund’s office in Paris in March, was allegedly in the process of clearing guns and explosives from a safe house.

Police told Kathimerini that the suspect had been under surveillance for two weeks before being caught carrying eight forged ID cards, two guns, ammunition, an explosive device rigged with a timer and gunpowder in three hold-alls, a plastic garbage bag and a fanny pack.

The unnamed suspect had previously been linked to the urban guerrilla group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, which had claimed responsibility for a similar letter bomb sent to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, also in March.