In Brief
GLYFADA CHASE
Policeman shot in the leg while pursuing two suspected robbers A policeman was shot in the leg when officers chased two robbery suspects in Glyfada early yesterday morning. The two Albanian nationals, aged 24 and 29, exchanged fire with police as they were chased through the streets of the suburb in southern Athens. The two suspects were eventually arrested and the officer was taken to a military hospital where he is being treated for his injury, which is not life-threatening. MIGRANTS PROTEST Group of 41 Iraqis due to be deported appeal for asylum Forty-one illegal immigrants from Iraq, being held at a detention center in Thessaloniki ahead of their scheduled deportation, yesterday issued appeals for asylum. Some of the migrants have allegedly been beaten by Thessaloniki police, according to human rights groups which are lobbying against the deportation of the migrants. Local rights groups yesterday condemned authorities for enforcing a Greek-Turkish protocol foreseeing cooperation in repatriating illegal immigrants, saying that the provision «imposed mass deportations without examining individual cases and granting the right to apply for asylum.» COUPLE DROWNS MP’s secretary found dead in Evia The secretary of New Democracy MP Simos Kedikoglou and a 40-year-old businessman were found drowned in Halkida, Evia, yesterday after apparently driving the deputy’s car into the sea. The couple had been missing since Sunday night. They had last been seen with Kedikoglou and other friends. The MP said that his secretary, whose name was not made public, had taken the keys to his car without permission. Police said that the 39-year-old woman had either lost control of the car or parked it on a downward slope near the sea without engaging the handbrake properly. Drug hauls Guards on the Greek-Albanian border yesterday arrested three Albanians following inspections of two cars in border areas that yielded 130 kilos of cannabis. Meanwhile, police said that a ring of drug dealers believed to have been operating in Athens and Piraeus has been broken. Officers arrested two men, both aged 32, in Piraeus on Monday after finding 130 kilos of cannabis in their possession. They then arrested a 29-year-old taxi driver in Kallithea, with 100 grams of cannabis under his car seat, and the driver’s suspected supplier, a 32-year-old foreigner, with a smaller quantity of drugs. Counterfeit euros Two people, aged 26 and 34, have been arrested following the discovery of dozens of forged banknotes in their residence in Yiannitsa, northern Greece, police said yesterday. Officers confiscated five forged 50-euro notes, 18 forged 10-euro notes and 104 fake 20-euro notes. They also seized 62 forged copies of the metallic thread used in banknotes to certify authenticity, as well as paper, ink, a paper-cutting machine and other equipment believed to have been used to produce the counterfeit notes. Illegal immigrants Authorities detained 34 illegal immigrants, including four women and a child, on the eastern Aegean island of Samos yesterday. The immigrants were from Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. They were taken to a local migrant accommodation center after going through medical checks. Post haste The Greek postal system has improved its rate of ensuring that letters and packages with first-class stamps are delivered – to Greek destinations – within one working day and is nearing an 85 percent target performance rate, the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) said yesterday. A total of 80 percent of first-class letters and packages were delivered within one working day during the second half of last year, as compared to 75.4 percent during the first six months of the same year, EETT said.
