Mobile phone net cast over November 17
Anti-terrorist officials combing through evidence connected with the June 2000 assassination of the British military attache in Athens have pinpointed a number of mobile phone calls linked with the November 17 group’s operatives. According to information made available to Kathimerini, officers involved in the campaign to track down and arrest members of the elusive terrorist group – which has killed 23 people over the past 27 years – have in hand a series of suspect mobile and fixed-line phone numbers. This followed the processing of data supplied by Greece’s three mobile phone companies regarding all calls made by cell phone along the route taken by Brigadier Stephen Saunders on the morning of June 8, 2000. The British official was shot dead in his car on Kifissias Avenue by two killers on a motorcycle. He had left his Kastri residence earlier in the morning, and was in the process of driving to his central Athens office in a car with Greek license plates. The phone-call monitoring process was instigated in the hope of catching calls by separate November 17 operatives who were involved in tailing Saunders and coordinating the attack. Eventually, after eliminating thousands of calls, anti-terrorist officials settled on a handful of numbers. The next move, with the assistance of the mobile phone provider, was to locate the retailers that sold the devices in question, the date of purchase and the date of the phones’ first activation. Officials also tried to obtain a description of the people who bought the phones, and were hoping to glean evidence from the closed-circuit cameras installed in the mobile phone shops. Sources said the phones in question remained in use for some time after the attack. It is unclear whether, apart from phone numbers, anti-terrorist officials have also obtained transcripts of conversations. But no arrests have been made so far. This is understood to be because it is unclear whether the evidence available would be sufficient to convict a suspect in court. To this end, the government has formed a committee of legal experts to offer advice on the matter. Uncorroborated reports maintain that intelligence officials have approached certain suspects in an attempt to strike a deal for information leading to the arrest of November 17 members.
