Guns found on site of fugitive businessman’s war museum
A search by police counterterrorism officers at the premises of a private war museum in Vari, south of Athens, registered in the name of the fugitive businessman Anastasios Pallis, has turned up dozens of containers crammed with firearms, police sources said on Thursday.
A high-ranking official told Kathimerini late last night that the weapons examined so far were “inactive” but that more remained to be inspected. Police had searched the same premises last April, turning up dozens of illegal arms, and prompting authorities to level misdemeanor charges against Pallis, a former associate of shipowner Victor Restis who is in pretrial custody for embezzlement.
On display at Pallis’s war museum are six military aircraft as well as tanks, military vehicles and motorcycles dating back to WWI. The weapons were found in sealed containers on the premises of the museum.
Police are seeking a possible link between Pallis and Golden Dawn after a retired British army officer, Edward Pringle-Stacey, who had worked with Pallis, suggested to Greek authorities that the businessman had in his possession some 4,000 weapons, which may be linked to the neofascist party.
Officers of the police’s internal affairs department raided Pallis’s home in Voula, southern Athens, on Wednesday, turning up dozens of weapons and knives and a roomful of Nazi paraphernalia.
