Greek police announced the arrest of three “urban terrorists,” with one of the suspects identified as the so-called “Archer of Syntagma.” Two other suspects are women.
The arrests were conducted in Agia Paraskevi suburb of northern Athens short after 9 o’ clock Wednesday morning in an operation with policemen reportedly dressed in civilian cloths.
The three suspects were in a vehicle stolen a couple of days ago, when they were stopped by police.
Video: Security camera footage shows suspects’ vehicle followed by two police cars.
Handguns as well as an assault rifle and a machine pistol were in the car, fake IDs, mobile phone, stolen license plates, other items and one silicon mask. One Kalashnikov and one Scorpion were in the vehicle, one 9-mm pistol was loaded with a bullet. All three suspects were wearing gloves.
The man was wearing a bullet proof vest, media report.
Police investigates whether the three were planning an armed attack – most likely an armed robbery in the area where they were captured.
The so-called “Archer of Syntagma” got his nickname after he was photographed targeting the Parliament with a bow and an arrow during a massive protest against austerity measures in February 2011.
The 32-year-old man had been arrested an armed robbery in northern Greece, another case linked with a radical anti-state urban guerrilla group.
He had been convicted for being involved in a shootout with police in the northern Athens suburb of Pefki, where two policemen and a passerby were injured. HE was also charged in twin bank robberies in northern Greece’s Kozani prefecture – incidents related to the activity of the self-styled anarchist terror gang “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.”
Serving a sentence of 23 years and 9 months, he had escaped from the Tiryntha prison farm in southern Greece in June 2019 and was a fugitive ever since.
Police was reportedly monitoring the group since Christmas.
— Ελληνική Αστυνομία (@hellenicpolice) January 30, 2020
Police has conducted investigation in four apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Ballistic examination showed that the weapons have not been used before, media report.
