In Brief
PERISTERI BLAST
Explosion outside antique store being treated as extortion An explosive device went off yesterday outside an antique store in Peristeri, western Athens, damaging the business and five parked cars. Police said the blast occurred at 5.25 a.m. and did not cause any injuries. According to an initial assessment, dynamite was used in the homemade bomb. The incident is being investigated by a police department that deals with cases of extortion. VOULIAGMENI SKELETON Tests on human remains Forensic scientists have been examining since Saturday human remains that were found by an amateur diver some 10 meters from the Vouliagmeni coastline in southern Athens. The diver made the discovery at a depth of 2 meters on Friday and alerted the coast guard, who collected the skull and bones from the seabed. The Merchant Marine Ministry said that it was impossible to immediately give any details about the identity of the skeleton, seemingly dismissing speculation that it may have been linked to the recent abduction of a doctor in the area. The remains are being examined by experts at the University of Athens. Romanian strangled A 25-year-old Romanian man was arrested in Nafplion, in the Peloponnese, yesterday on suspicion of strangling to death a countryman of the same age. Officers arrested the unnamed suspect after the body of a 25-year-old man was taken to the local hospital and doctors noticed bruising around his neck. Forensic tests showed that he had been strangled. Police said that the suspect has confessed to the crime but they did not reveal what his motive may have been. Employee stabbed A 45-year-old employee of a PROPO betting shop in the Ano Poli neighborhood of Thessaloniki was stabbed late on Saturday by two men who attempted to rob the store. The would-be robbers attacked the man, who was not named, after he refused to be hand over the store’s takings. The pair fled empty-handed and the 45-year-old was taken to a local hospital, where he is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Murder arrest A 39-year-old man was arrested in Thessaloniki on Saturday on suspicion of killing a 38-year-old hotel employee who was found dead in his room at a complex in Neos Marmaras, Halkidiki, two days earlier. The hotel worker had been hit on the head. The 39-year-old allegedly told police that he attacked the victim after he said something that upset him. Drunk driver A 34-year-old man was arrested near Edessa, northern Greece, early yesterday after being involved in a car crash that left a 44-year-old pedestrian dead and the car’s passenger, 33, injured. The accident occurred on a country road and the driver, who was not named, was found to be above the legal limit for alcohol. Arson attack A New Democracy office in the Ano Poli neighborhood of Thessaloniki suffered an attack by arsonists at about 5 a.m. yesterday. Assailants smashed the office’s windows and threw incendiary devices inside comprising cooking gas canisters. The devices exploded, causing some minor damage to the interior of the building. Nobody was injured.
