In Brief
OLYMPIC DEAL
Government reaches agreement over surveillance system installed in 2004 The government yesterday finally signed a deal with US company SAIC for a security system that had been installed before the Athens Olympics in 2004. Greece had been unhappy with some technical aspects of the system, which provides authorities with audio and visual information through a network of CCTV cameras and microphones. The Public Order Ministry said that it has resolved the problems with the San Diego-based firm, which has agreed to reduce the cost of the 259-million-euro system by 13.4 million euros. SAIC has also agreed to provide police with a backup communications center, 7.5 million euros’ worth of free equipment and 28 traffic surveillance cameras. LUCKY ESCAPE Burning truck rams into home A truck transporting gas canisters caught fire while traveling on the Athens-Lamia national highway, near the Schimatari tollgates, and slammed into a house, causing serious damage to the building. The truck driver suffered slight injuries but no one else was hurt in the incident. Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it spread to an adjoining home, authorities said. Player let off A Brazilian soccer player who was caught driving while over the alcohol limit escaped punishment yesterday after a Thessaloniki court ruled that there was reasonable doubt about his case. Larissa forward Silva Clayton was arrested on March 16 on suspicion of drunk driving but his lawyer argued in court yesterday that alcohol is detected more easily in sportsmen because their bodies have different attributes than those of non-athletes. The court accepted this argument and found Clayton not guilty. Family affair A 45-year-old woman and her 22-year-old daughter are to testify before an investigating magistrate in Thessaloniki tomorrow after police found heroin in their possession earlier this week. The two women were arrested in the city’s Toumba district after police discovered small quantities of heroin and pills in the car being driven by the mother. A subsequent search of the suspects’ home unearthed 140 grams of heroin. The women have been heroin users for years, according to police. The older woman’s husband, father of the girl, is in jail, officers said, without elaborating. Migrants intercepted Authorities on Samos detained 15 illegal immigrants, believed to have reached the island from Turkey, early yesterday. The would-be migrants, who come from Afghanistan and Somalia, were transferred to the island’s immigrant reception center which currently accommodates about 180 people.
