Post office heist was ‘inside job’

A post office employee who was shot in the leg during one of the biggest armed robberies ever seen in Greece helped to plan the raid but he and another suspect gave themselves away with the life of luxury they were leading, police said yesterday after confirming two arrests. The 32-year-old post office employee worked as an armed guard, escorting an armored truck in Athens. According to officers, he passed on information, including a video shot on his mobile phone, about the truck and its route to the two men who held up the vehicle in the southern Athens district of Petralona on January 30, 2009, and stole some 3 million euros in cash from it. One of the two robbers shot the 32-year-old in the leg so as not to arouse suspicion that he may have been involved, police said. The post office employee had used part of the money he earned from the robbery to buy a luxury sports utility vehicle as well as two other cars. Police said that they have also arrested one of the two armed robbers, a 36-year-old man who has not been named, in Patra after his heavy spending aroused suspicion. Officers allegedly found 85,000 euros in cash on the suspect, still in 17 bundles with the Hellenic Post (ELTA) markings. Another 100,000 euros was found in a bank deposit box rented by the 36-year-old. The unnamed suspect was already known to police as he had served part of a 25-year jail sentence for robbery before being released in 2007. Police said they are continuing their investigation to track down the third suspect and to recover the remainder of the stolen money. Meanwhile, three robbers stole some 500,000 euros in cash from an armored truck transporting money for the Bank of Greece in Tripoli, in the Peloponnese, yesterday. According to police, the robbers struck when the guards stopped to transfer some sacks of cash to another armored truck. One guard was slightly injured in the incident.