In Brief
BABY TRADING
Up to 10 people linked to sale of child; four arrested in Athens Police in Attica yesterday arrested four people in connection with the sale of a 20-day-old baby girl. Those arrested were Greeks but officers said they were looking for six Bulgarian nationals in connection with the alleged sale of children. The four Greeks – three men and one woman – were arrested in Pangrati Park, after they had agreed to meet two undercover police officers posing as prospective buyers. The suspects had agreed to sell the baby for 15,000 euros. DRIVING HOME Greek license to change in 2012 as EU decides to unify permits Greek motorists are to be issued with a European driver’s license by 2012, which will be valid in all member states, European Union transport ministers agreed yesterday. The credit-card style license will gradually replace national versions within the EU by 2032 and is to be renewable every 10 to 15 years after a medical checkup. The single license is seen as helping fight fraud and improving security. CHINESE MEETING Greece discusses Olympic know-how Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras met with Chinese Deputy State Security Minister Geng Huichang in Athens yesterday to discuss security issues relating to the Olympic Games. Greece has agreed to offer the Asian country the technical know-how it acquired during the Athens Olympics. Dump transformation A recently closed landfill on the outskirts of Thessaloniki is to be converted into a 19-hectare park after local authorities signed a deal with a contractor yesterday. The park at Tagarades will include a number of sports fields and hundreds of trees are to be planted throughout the area. The project will cost 10.3 million euros, 75 percent of which will be covered by funds from the European Union’s Cohesion Fund. Roma charges A group of six Roma detained last week in connection to more than 200 burglaries in Attica are also believed to be responsible for an additional 14 break-ins and a murder, police said yesterday. Authorities are continuing an investigation into the gang’s suspected activities as they took into custody four more suspects, including a 16-year-old male. The gang had allegedly targeted many homes where elderly citizens lived on their own. Bank bomb Police believe that the leftist group Popular Revolutionary Action was responsible for placing an explosive device outside a branch of Citibank in Exarchia, central Athens shortly past midnight yesterday. An unidentified caller telephoned the Eleftherotypia newspaper half an hour earlier to warn of the explosion. The bomb caused damage to the entrance of the bank as well as two parked cars. Officers said that only half of the explosives planted actually went off. Armed robberies Two armed robberies took place within the space of five minutes yesterday in Kallithea and Glyfada, netting the thieves about 40,000 euros, police said. The first holdup took place at an OTE shop in Kallithea at about 2.20 p.m. when two men, whose faces where covered with bandanas, took 23,445 euros from the safe. The second holdup took place at a branch of the Laiki Bank at 2.25 p.m. in Glyfada, where thieves made off with about 16,000 euros in cash. Suspect food Inspectors from the Piraeus Prefecture yesterday seized 40 kilos of feta cheese, 100 kilos of cod and 120 kilos of various meats from the Atlantic supermarket in Keratsini after determining that the food was unfit for human consumption.
