In Brief
VAVILIS RETURN
One of Greece’s most wanted men is to be brought back to Athens Apostolos Vavilis – the drug dealer allegedly involved in shady deals with the Church of Greece, the police force and foreign secret services – is due to be escorted back to Athens today or tomorrow, sources said yesterday. Vavilis has been moved from a prison in Bologna, Italy, to Rome ahead of his return to Greece. Greek policemen arrived in Rome yesterday to accompany Vavilis back to Greece. JOURNALISTS WATCHED? List submitted to watchdog amid claims reporters were monitored A list of 24 journalists who were allegedly being monitored by secret agents was submitted to the Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) yesterday. The names were handed over by journalist Aristea Bougatsou, who alleged that the list had originated from the National Intelligence Agency (EYP). The names of Kathimerini editor Constantinos Angelopoulos and journalist Stavros Lygeros were on the list. Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras labeled the idea that EYP had been monitoring the journalists as «groundless» and «with ulterior motives.» METRO STOPPAGE Workers protest over pay, hirings Workers on the Athens metro said yesterday that they will stage a four-hour work stoppage tomorrow. Their industrial action will begin at 5 a.m. and end at 9 a.m. Workers are protesting that Attiko Metro has not fully paid staff salaries based on previous collective contracts. Unionists are also demanding the hiring of more personnel because, they claim, current staff are forced to work overtime and not take all their leave so trains can run normally. Blood testing The Health Ministry has ordered all centers that collect blood donations to conduct nucleic acid testing (NAT) which can detect HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, if it has been contracted 11 days or more from when the donor gave blood, sources said yesterday. After a meeting at the ministry on Monday, officials decided that all the centers should immediately switch to using NAT to reduce the possibility of infected blood getting into the system. The decision came after it was made public last week that blood from an infected donor had led to two people contracting HIV. Policeman sentenced A 40-year-old police guard serving on the Greek-Albanian border was given an 18-month suspended sentence yesterday after allowing into the country six Albanian nationals without conducting a proper check of their travel documents. Border patrol officers reported the incident to Internal Affairs after they found the six men on board a bus that had entered the country illegally. Meat confiscated Prefectural authorities in Thessaloniki said yesterday they had confiscated 215 imported lambs from a butcher at the end of March that had been illegally marked as being Greek livestock. The prefecture will be stepping up checks in the meat market with the Easter holiday approaching. In a separate incident, the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) confiscated 28,927 kilos of beef from a catering company in Athens that was unfit for consumption. Rubbish strike The City of Athens yesterday called on residents to keep their rubbish indoors for the next two days due to a 48-hour strike called by municipal street-cleaning services starting today. Easter shopping The Athens Traders’ Association (ESA) recommended yesterday that stores only open from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Greek Orthodox Good Friday, which is on April 21, and that they remain closed on Easter Monday, April 24. Normal opening hours will resume on Tuesday, April 25, ESA said. Driver released The driver of an armored vehicle that was held up in Crete last week was released by police yesterday, authorities said. The man was arrested after his account of the 1.25-million-euro holdup, the biggest in Crete in two years, conflicted with the version of events given by an accompanying guard. A local court will rule in coming days whether the 40-year-old driver should be remanded in custody.
