Police trophy hunters caught
Officers arrested two men yesterday in connection with a firebomb attack by anarchists on riot police officers in central Athens two months ago during which various items of police equipment were stolen. Two riot shields, a helmet and a gas mask were taken during the incident in May, when some 20 hooded youths threw Molotov cocktails at a police bus with a number of officers inside. The police did not make the loss of the items public, but photographs of the paraphernalia appeared on the Internet a few days later, forcing officers to admit their theft. A similar incident took place last month when another shield was stolen along with a policeman’s beret. After a surveillance operation, the two men, aged 40 and 26, were arrested in the early morning as they were trying to dispose of the riot shield, which they had smashed into small pieces and placed in garbage bags, police sources said. Officers found a shotgun and bullets at the home of one suspect, and a police helmet, gas mask, bulletproof vest, shotgun and chainsaw at the home of the other.
