Police in Thessaloniki said yesterday that they had confiscated several weapons and many rounds of ammunition in a specially constructed compartment in the car of a 36-year-old who had crossed into Greece from Bulgaria on Friday. Officers seized six Russian-made Baikal-type shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a stiletto knife and a metal knuckleduster. On Saturday, police arrested a 33-year-old foreigner they believe had been due to receive the weapons cache. Another two men, aged 50 and 32, have been arrested in connection with the seizure, police said.

Two men claiming to be from Pakistan were arrested at Athens International Airport yesterday after the pilot of a plane informed police of their alleged suspicious behavior. The police arrested the two men, aged 18 and 20, after discovering that they were traveling with forged travel documents. The flight, from Myconos to Paris, had stopped in Athens for fuel.

A border patrol in Kastoria, northeastern Greece, yesterday detected six Albanian men carrying sacks full of cannabis into the country. The suspects dumped the 130 kilograms of cannabis when they were ordered to stop by authorities and fled, police said. A police sniffer dog was used in the search operation that followed but police failed to find the suspects.

A gang of three men are believed to have held up three supermarkets in Athens yesterday within the space of 90 minutes, police said. The armed suspects held up stores in Patissia, Petroupolis and Peristeri using the same vehicle and made away with unknown amounts of cash.

A hand grenade exploded in front of an apartment building in Piraeus yesterday, smashing the window in the entrance area and damaging a nearby parked car. Police said that a man traveling on a motorbike was seen throwing the grenade in an incident they believe was intended to scare one of the apartment building’s tenants.

A 22-year-old Armenian man, believed to have mugged four young men - two of whom were minors - has been arrested, police in southeastern Attica said yesterday. The unnamed man, whose tourist visa was found to have expired, is believed to have been part of a gang which violently robs young men of their mobile telephones, cash and shoes.

EKAB (National First Aid Center) ambulance workers protested outside of the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry in Thessaloniki yesterday over pay demands and calls for an increase in staffing all over Greece. The workers are planning to demonstrate, along with police and firefighters, on Friday at the Thessaloniki International Fair, which Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will be attending to present the opening address.

A 41-year-old worker was killed at a tomato production plant in Serres, northern Greece, on Sunday after he rescued a co-worker who had fallen into a waste processor. Police said that the unlucky man had just helped lift his co-worker out of the processor when he then fell in and was unable to escape.

Police confiscated 11,500 ecstasy pills in Edessa, northern Greece, yesterday and arrested four suspects after acting on a tip-off, authorities said. Police said that the men had been caught trying to sell the narcotics for 47,000 euros. The suspects were expected to face a prosecutor in Edessa later in the day.