Three detainees may be tied to guerrilla group
The Hellenic Police (ELAS) believe they have come a step closer to disbanding the Group of Popular Fighters, one of the last active militant guerrilla groups active in Greece, following the arrest of three anarchists on Thursday after raids on four properties in central Athens.
A raid on a basement property in Koukaki turned up explosives and detonators reminiscent of those used by the group in its attacks.
Moreover, sources indicated that one of the three suspects was the author of a text claiming responsibility for an attack by the group in December 2018 that targeted the building housing Skai TV and Kathimerini.
Currently the three suspects – two men aged 42 and 38 and a woman aged 36 – face charges of weapons and explosives possession and not terrorism-related charges. The three had been under intense police surveillance for the past seven months and, according to police sources, may have been planning a terrorist hit by the end of the year.
The two male suspects are known to police, the elder with links to fugitive bank robber Vassilis Palaiokostas and the younger thought to have ties to Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, another guerrilla group.
