Fourteen arrested on charges of funding terrorism
Greece’s counterterrorism unit has arrested 14 people – 13 Greeks and one foreign national – on charges of funding a terrorist organization and money laundering.
The defendants, 11 men and three women, were detained Tuesday morning on arrest warrants issued by an investigative magistrate.
The investigation began on October 28 after the arrest of 29-year-old Constantinos Giatzoglou, who sent a letter bomb that seriously injured former prime minister Lucas Papademos and others to 10 European officials in the period between March and May 2017.
The 14 were found to have deposited money in a bank account used by Giatzoglou to withdraw cash.
According to sources, the suspects are relatives of prison inmates and were probably unaware they were depositing money in the account Giatzoglou was using.
After the bank’s confidentiality was lifted as part of the investigation, it was revealed that the suspects would pay amounts ranging between 100 and 600 euros into the account.
The investigation showed that Giatzoglou used a bogus name, Christos Panayiotopoulos, to open an account at Western Union.
The 14 suspects deposited money into Giatzoglou’s account as payment for services rendered to their relatives in prison. Police sources said that those that provided these services were convicted terrorists who are linked to Giatzoglou and have influence in the prison.
The wide list of services on offer included the provision of mobile phones for a fee of 300 euros and help to change prison cells at a price of 600 euros.
If convicted, the 14 suspects could face sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
An investigative magistrate is calling on all 14 to reveal who told them to make the deposits.
