NEWS

Turkish terrorist suspects held, huge cache seized

Four suspected members of a Turkish extreme-leftist guerrilla organization were arrested in Athens on Monday after Greek anti-terrorist officers raided an apartment in the neighborhood of Gyzi and seized a large cache of weapons and explosives.

Although they are said to have been in possession of forged Georgian passports, the four are believed to be Kurds with Turkish citizenship and are suspected of belonging to to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

Greek Police were in contact with their Turkish counterparts on Monday in a bid to identify the four suspects. According to sources, the four are believed to be members of the organization’s hit squad. The same sources said that one of the four is being sought by Interpol in connection with a bloody terrorist assault in Turkey.

Police said a raid on the Gyzi apartment turned up a Kalashnikov assault rifle, two submachine guns, three pistols, 6 kilos of gelatin dynamite, two hand grenades as well as maps of Athens, Alexandroupoli and Turkey. The search also turned up berets and literature bearing the DHKP-C logo.

A female resident of the apartment block in Gyzi told police she often saw the suspects going in and out with suitcases and rucksacks.

The arrests yesterday came after a 44-year-old woman, also thought to be a Kurd, was arrested in Iraklio, Crete, on Saturday. She is wanted in Turkey for terrorism offenses.

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