In Brief
CYPRUS TALKS
Officials to meet to get island’s reunification process back on track Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot officials will meet on Tuesday to arrange a meeting between their leaders, the United Nations said yesterday, as the two sides look to get the reunification process back on track. «The Coordination Committee will reconvene on August 21 in connection with making arrangements for the proposed meeting between the two leaders,» said Brian Kelly, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus, UNFICYP. Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have both agreed to meet in the presence of UN officials to restart peace talks. The two leaders last met more than a year ago. VOULA MURDER Professional wrestling agent found shot dead in seafront apartment A 57-year-old professional wrestling agent was found shot dead yesterday in his apartment in Voula, southern Athens, police said. Vassilis Mavropoulos, an ethnic Greek from Kazakhstan, had been shot six times in the throat, chest and arms at close range. Officers suspect that the killing was carried out by someone that Mavropoulos knew because they did not find any signs of forced entry at the apartment. Police said that a motive for the apparent murder was not immediately clear. UNDERCOVER LOVER Suspect swindles girlfriend and family A 33-year-old man who allegedly pretended to be a secret intelligence agent and a surgeon so he could swindle money out of his girlfriend and her family has been arrested, police in Thessaloniki said yesterday. The unnamed suspect is alleged to have borrowed 17,000 euros from the woman and her relatives with no intention of paying it back. He is also accused of taking two of his ex-girlfriend’s credit cards without her permission and running up bills totaling 13,850 euros. The 33-year-old is said to have admitted to the offenses. Police said there were six outstanding court orders in his name that totaled 20 months in prison. Traffic measures Police presence on the country’s national roads will increase tomorrow, with a large number of holidaymakers expected to return to the capital. Police said they are expecting heavy traffic this weekend as the government’s decision to call early elections for September 16 is likely to result in a shorter holiday period for a number of Athenians. Three arrests Police said yesterday they had arrested three people in Thessaloniki accused of selling small quantities of heroin. A 30-year-old woman and two men, aged 21 and 27, were arrested in separate incidents for allegedly selling narcotics in different parts of the northern Greek city. Body found The body of an elderly man was pulled out of the sea near the port of Alexandroupolis, northeastern Greece, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The coast guard said that the man was aged around 75 with white hair and wearing white underwear. A blue-gray striped shirt was found on the coast along with a pair of blue trousers. No person of this description had been reported missing. Authorities were waiting for the results of an autopsy to establish the cause of death. Illegal immigrants Police yesterday detained five illegal immigrants in the port of the eastern Aegean island of Samos. The illegal immigrants, including three children, told authorities they had crossed over into Greece on board an inflatable dinghy which they then destroyed. No information was disclosed regarding their identity. Separately in Patras, port authorities detained two illegal immigrants who tried to board an Italy-bound ferry hidden in a truck. Authorities arrested the 61-year-old driver and confiscated his vehicle. Car thieves Two men, aged 23 and 26, have been arrested in Thessaloniki accused of breaking into vehicles and stealing mirrors from luxury cars in the last two years in a racket worth more than 30,000 euros, police said yesterday. The 23-year-old has been accused of 29 counts of theft and the second man with breaking into 14 parked cars and stealing stereos, credit cards and mobile phones.
