In Brief
POLICE CHARGED
Two officers are suspended over fugitive’s new identity card A prosecutor in Athens yesterday charged two unnamed policemen with helping fugitive Vassilis Stefanakos obtain a new identity card just days after he had been sentenced to more than 14 years in jail for forming a criminal gang. The two officers, who serve at police stations in Nikaia and Petroupolis, were also suspended. Prosecutor Panayiota Fakou ordered the police’s internal affairs department to investigate whether Stefanakos had other links in the force. BURNING ISSUE First Cemetery to get crematorium The first crematorium in Greece will be located at the First Cemetery in Athens, Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis said yesterday. A law was passed last year allowing the dead to be cremated in Greece. Greece currently has no cremation facilities. Kaklamanis did not say when the crematorium will be ready. Hotel thief Quick thinking from two elderly hotel owners, aged 70 and 75, led to the arrest of a suspect accused of holding up 13 hotels in southern Athens in the last three months. Police said the hotel owners realized the suspect’s gun was fake as he was holding up them up in Neo Faliron. A scuffle with the would-be robber followed, allowing the owners to remove the suspect’s helmet and get a good look at him before he fled. They passed on the description to police, who arrested him shortly thereafter. Deal intercepted Police on Rhodes were yesterday looking for the 27-year-old employee of a local courier firm who fled after an off-duty officer caught him with a package containing 3 kilos of cannabis. The man allegedly attacked the officer, who approached the suspect after recognizing him from a previous drug-related incident. The courier then dropped the package and ran away. Carnival concerts The City of Athens said yesterday that it is putting on 13 free concerts – some of which will be held outdoors – around the capital over the next 10 days to coincide with the Carnival season. The showpiece event will be held on February 18, when all the municipal orchestras will play from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. at Thiseion’s pedestrian mall. Illegal fireworks A 37-year-old soccer fan was sentenced to five months in jail, court officials in Thessaloniki said yesterday. The unnamed PAOK fan was arrested after a recent match between the Thessaloniki club and Panathinaikos, during which authorities discovered the suspect was carrying fireworks. The unnamed man did not appear in court for sentencing and is being sought by police.
