The former head of the financial crimes squad, Spyros Kladas, yesterday submitted a written statement to prosecutor Maria Gane in connection with a probe relating to the alleged blackmail of former Culture Ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos. Kladas reportedly denied charges that he had approached journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos via MP Costas Koukodimos last year to ask for his name to be kept out of the Proto Thema newspaper in connection with the Zachopoulos probe. At the time, Proto Thema co-owner Themos Anastasiadis, Triantafyllopoulos’s former publishing partner, was under investigation over deposits in his bank account that totaled 5.5 million euros.

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook the island of Rhodes early yesterday, experts said, but there were no injuries or damage reported. It is thought that the 2.52 a.m. quake was an aftershock of a stronger tremor, measuring 6.3 Richter, that rocked the island early on Tuesday, causing some damage as well as the death of a 56-year-old woman who slipped while trying to flee her home.

Police were yesterday investigating the death of a 35-year-old policeman whose body was found in a street in the central Athens district of Kypseli on Tuesday evening. The 35-year-old, who had been shot in the head, had been working as a security guard for VIPs.

An improvised explosive device comprising two gas canisters went off outside offices of the ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki early yesterday, damaging the building’s entrance and two parked cars. No one was injured in the attack, for which there had been no claim of responsibility by late yesterday.

Passengers using the Athens suburban railway line are likely to face disruptions today due to rolling two-hour stoppages by workers. Around 28 scheduled connections between Nerantziotissa station and Athens International Airport are to be canceled today. The Nerantziotissa-Ano Liosia route and the Piraeus-Kiato route will also be subject to disruptions.

An Athens court yesterday passed down five-year suspended jail sentences to two youths found guilty of planting improvised explosive devices under a municipal police vehicle in the coastal suburb of Palaio Faliron in June last year. The age of the youths was not revealed.

Greece has sent five emergency workers to the USA to help with the effort to put out forest fires that have been raging for days in California, it was revealed yesterday. Greece agreed to the move following a request from the US State Department.