In Brief
WAEL IV – Another 105 illegal migrants arrested in southern Crete Police and coast guard in southern Crete yesterday arrested another 105 illegal immigrants who were set ashore on Wednesday morning by a Syrian-flagged freighter. So far, they have arrested 185 out of the estimated 200 Iraqis, Pakistanis and Africans set ashore. The Wael IV’s Syrian captain and 10 crewmen, who were arrested on Wednesday aboard the ship that ran aground just off the area of Paliochora, will be tried for human trafficking today. STARDOM Black Star anarchists enter US State Department ‘terrorist exclusion list’ The US State department yesterday said it had put 39 groups, charities and companies on a newly-created terrorist exclusion list, giving American authorities the power to deport members or deny them visas. The list included a Greek listing, the Black Star anarchist group that has carried out half a dozen car fire bombings in Athens over the past year. It mostly targets cars with US number plates or diplomatic vehicles. IMMIGRANTS DROWNED Bodies of three Afghans found Turkish authorities found the bodies of two Afghan illegal immigrants washed up on the coast near the resort of Cesme yesterday, the Associated Press reported from Ankara. The two had been trying to cross to the Greek island of Chios in an inflatable raft when it capsized in rough seas. The police also arrested four other Afghans trying to get to Chios, according to Turkey’s Anatolia news agency. Meanwhile, the body of yet another drowned Afghan immigrant was found on a beach on Lesvos yesterday. Daughter freed. A 47-year-old woman, Eleni Nikolopoulou, allegedly kept locked up by her mother for 30 years in Loutsa, north of Athens, was recovering in an Athens hospital yesterday after being found bedridden and virtually paralyzed on Wednesday. Nikolopoulou’s ordeal was revealed by neighbors who called a private radio station. Police found Nikolopoulou in the basement of a makeshift chapel in the grounds of the home. Neighbors said the woman had developed health problems after her parents broke up a love affair and the young man married another girl. Kidnappers sentenced. A Thessaloniki appeals court yesterday sentenced two men to 19 and 10 years’ imprisonment each for abducting and blackmailing two senior officials of a German bank in 1995. Costas Arabatzis and Dinos Korektsidis were convicted of kidnapping Peter Ritter and Michael Wortentuger, who had come to Greece to seek a debt payment from Arabatzis. The kidnappers forced the two victims to sign papers that not only canceled Arabatzis’s debts, but indicated that the bank owed him money. Flight disturbance. Russian journalist Dmitry Zaks received a 12-month prison sentence on Wednesday for a disturbance he caused on a flight from Moscow to Athens Tuesday night. Zaks and three other passengers were arrested upon arrival and charged with harassing flight attendants while under the influence of alcohol. All four were released after lodging appeals. Breaking and entering. Four men smashed their way into a National Bank branch in Aegaleo, western Athens, yesterday, and got away with 10 million drachmas. Shortly after the bank closed for the day, one of the robbers kept watch outside while the other three used sledgehammers to break open the door. They held up the three cashiers at gunpoint before escaping on two motorcycles. Life sentence. A 24-year-old Albanian man was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for the 1998 murder of a former Mt. Athos monk. Nikos Papas was convicted of stabbing Leon Foras 133 times. Foras had been expelled from Mt. Athos in 1995 after living there for 15 years. Papas, who allegedly had homosexual relations with Foras, said he killed the former monk after the latter requested that they should reverse sexual roles. Soccer. The two Greek teams participating in the UEFA Cup had mixed fortunes yesterday. In the second-leg matches of the third round, AEK drew 1-1 away against Bulgaria’s Litex to win 4-3 on aggregate and advance to the round of 16 teams. PAOK was defeated 4-1 by Eindhoven in Holland, losing 6-4 on aggregate. Panathinaikos coach Yiannis Kyrastas was frustrated that his team was not more adventurous.
