Terror probe widens as six more sought

Four original suspects to testify Tuesday

Members of the police’s counterterrorism force escort to the courthouse four suspected members of the militant anarchist group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire yesterday as authorities issued arrest warrants for another six suspected members. A prosecutor decided to make public the names of all 10 suspects.

Four suspected members of a militant anarchist group believed to be responsible for dozens of bomb blasts over the past four years will remain in custody until Tuesday, when they are to defend themselves before an investigating magistrate on multiple crime and misdemeanor charges.

A prosecutor yesterday identified the four suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire as Harilaos Hatzimichelakis, Emmanouil Yio-spas, Myrto Panteloglou and Panayiotis Masouras. The charges they face include participating in bomb attacks, membership in a criminal organization and the illegal possession of explosives and concern two bloodless attacks – one on the Kolonaki home of opposition PASOK deputy Louka Katseli on Wednesday and another in July that targeted the home of former Deputy Interior Minister Panayiotis Hinofotis in Palaio Faliro.

The attack on Hinofotis, for which Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire claimed responsibility at the time, was carried out using a bomb planted in a cooking pot, almost identical to a device used in the attack on Katseli’s home and another, intact, device discovered at a house in the Athens district of Halandri which the group is believed to have used as a hideout.

As police forensic experts continued to examine explosives and documents found at the Halandri property yesterday, sources said that they believed the group had maintained a second hideout in the district of Galatsi. It is thought that the bomb used in the attack on Katseli’s home was manufactured at the Galatsi property, as police had been monitoring the Halandri residence for several weeks.

Meanwhile, arrest warrants were issued for another six suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire. These suspects were identified as Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Damianos Balanos, Giorgos Karayiannidis, Eleni Contopoulou and Constantinos Karakatsanis. Police said yesterday that they had found the fingerprints of all six suspects in the Halandri hideout.