News24
09 Nov 2019, 23:41 GMT+10
Greek police said on Saturday that they had arrested three people and seized an arms cache in an ongoing anti-terrorist operation officials likened to high profile arrests of Revolutionary Struggle group members in 2010.
Police said two men - a 41 and a 45-year-old - and a 39-year-old woman, allegedly implicated in terrorism, were arrested during a "wide operation" launched in Athens on Friday. They added that a 46-year-old man remained at large.
During the raids on 13 houses, a Greek anti-terrorist squad seized weapons, including five AK-47 automatic rifles, detonators, dynamite and grenades.
The 41-year-old man arrested was also detained in 2010, accused of being a member of far-left group Revolutionary Struggle (EA), behind a series of "anti-capitalist" attacks.
The Citizen Protection Ministry said one of the assault rifles found during the raids was used in an October robbery at a betting shop in the northern suburb of Cholargos.
Another AK-47 was used in multiple attacks carried out by the "Organisation of Revolutionary Self-Defence" group against PASOK socialist party headquarters in Athens, as well as against the Mexican embassy in Athens in 2016.
The group also claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the French Embassy in Athens in 2016.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hailed the operation as "a very big success".
"Let me repeat, for one more time, our commitment to put a definitive and irreversible end to the problem of domestic terrorism", he added.
A top police official told AFP the operation could be compared to the arrests in 2010 of Revolutionary Struggle leaders Paula Roupa and Nikos Maziotis.
Their group, which first emerged in 2003, was once deemed by authorities to be the country's most dangerous far-left organisation.
The United States put a bounty on the group after it fired a rocket at the US embassy in Athens in 2007, though nobody was injured.
In 2014, the group also exploded a booby-trapped car outside a Bank of Greece office in central Athens as the country prepared to make a highly symbolic debt sale. Again, no-one was hurt.
Get a daily dose of Irish Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Irish Sun.
More InformationCAPE TOWN, South Africa: The U.S. Embassy in South Africa said it received a list of over 67,000 people interested in refugee status...
RALEIGH, North Carolina: North Carolina's highest court has ruled that a mother and her teenage son can pursue a lawsuit over a COVID-19...
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: City officials in Fort Myers, Florida, voted last week to approve a new agreement allowing local police to...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: With flight delays rising and aviation safety under scrutiny, the U.S. government is preparing a sweeping modernization...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for urgent safety checks on 68 bridges, including...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has announced plans to open more land for oil and gas drilling in Alaska and...
DUBLIN, Ireland: A new survey from the Central Statistics Office reveals that most 25-year-olds in Ireland are still living at home,...
DUBLIN, Ireland: McDonald's expansion drive in Ireland has hit a roadblock as two proposed drive-thru restaurants face appeals from...
DUBLIN, Ireland - A sixth person has been taken into custody following Monday's search raids in connection with an ongoing investigation...
DUBLIN, Ireland: As tensions rise between the United States and the European Union over potential tariffs, Ireland's Central Bank governor...
DUBLIN, Ireland: In 2024, thousands of jobseekers saw their welfare payments reduced for not fully engaging with employment support...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland's Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned that an escalating trade war between the European Union and...