In Brief
GANG CAUGHT
Four officers injured in arrest of three men for rape and robberies Police early yesterday arrested in Ilioupolis, eastern Athens, three men suspected of raping a young woman and carrying out three armed robberies and 22 break-ins. Four officers were injured as the three suspects tried to evade arrest. Police did not name the three men but said they were aged 19, 20 and 33 and are foreign nationals who raped a woman in her home early on Tuesday before stealing cash and jewelry from the apartment. They were found to be in possession of a stolen car, which had a number of stolen items inside, including mobile phones, cameras and keys to other cars. ARCHBISHOP TESTS Christodoulos undergoes checks in Miami and goes on liver transplant list Archbishop Christodoulos has undergone preliminary tests at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and is now on a waiting list for a liver transplant, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece said in a statement yesterday. The head of the Church has traveled to Florida for the operation after being diagnosed with liver cancer. The Synod said that Andreas Tzakis, the Greek-American doctor in charge of the archbishop’s medical treatment, was satisfied with the results of the tests and is confident that Christodoulos will soon undergo the transplant. DEADLY CROSSING Man dies as train smashes bulldozer A 40-year-old man was killed yesterday when the bulldozer he was driving was struck by a train at an unguarded level crossing near Florina, northern Greece. The train driver and another railway employee were slightly injured in the collision, which occurred at around 9.45 a.m. No passengers were hurt. The line was closed for several hours after the accident. Heister nabbed An armed man who yesterday held up a bank in the northern Athens suburb of Nea Ionia was arrested shortly after the raid, police said. The unnamed 42-year-old threatened staff at the branch of Emporiki Bank and forced them to hand over cash. But the bank’s silent alarm tipped off police and they arrested the robber as he attempted to make his getaway. Sauce of allergy The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) said yesterday that it has asked for two sauces used in Indian cuisine to be withdrawn from stores because they contain ingredients which could cause allergies and have not been properly labeled. The products in question are Sharwood’s Spicy Tikka Masala Sauce (Medium Hot) and Patak’s Original Rogan Josh Curry Paste Tomato & Paprika (Medium). Dealer’s stash A 50-year-old man has been arrested for drug dealing after police found that he hid 4.5 kilos of heroin in an abandoned car in the southern Athens suburb of Hellenikon. Officers said that they were informed about the car, found the drugs inside and then set up a surveillance operation to catch the owner. Street beggars Police in Thessaloniki said yesterday that they have arrested three Romanian men in the city on suspicion of forcing several of their countrymen to beg for money at traffic lights. Officers said that the three suspects, aged 18, 36 and 43, were caught after complaints from two people who claim they came to Thessaloniki from Romania after responding to a classified ad for farm work. But when they arrived, they were met by the suspects who physically threatened their victims to beg for money and then had over all their earnings to the trio. Scam artist A 61-year-old man has been arrested in Athens on suspicion of using false documents and impersonating a shipping tycoon to obtain bank loans worth 60,000 euros, authorities said yesterday. The unnamed suspect allegedly submitted forged tax papers, showing a higher income than he actually made, to a number of banks in Attica. Having submitted the application forms, he would then call the bank managers pretending to be a well-known shipping tycoon and ask them to speed up the application process. The alleged fraudster was arrested at a bank in Holargos. Building bridges A new bridge will be constructed on the Thessaloniki-Kavala national road near the Modi junction to replace the previous one that collapsed during floods in February last year.
