NEWS

In Brief

ATM theft

Intruders net 112,000 euros in Larissa hospital raid Police in Larissa, central Greece, yesterday were looking for the thieves of a bank ATM, hacked out of a wall inside the city’s university hospital and carted off in the early hours of Saturday morning. The theft is believed to have occurred at around 5 a.m. when the hospital is at its quietest, but police expressed surprise that none of the staff noticed the removal of the 300-kilo machine. The ATM contained around 112,000 euros, sources said. Robber’s obsession Kazakh hit bank three times A 32-year-old Kazakh national arrested on Friday after attempting to rob a bank in Piraeus, following a three-hour standoff with police in a warehouse, has raided the same branch of Millennium Bank in the past two years, police revealed yesterday. The suspect, who was given the weekend to prepare his defense before an investigating magistrate, had robbed the branch in March last year and December 2007, police said. The 32-year-old had reportedly rented a street kiosk opposite the bank to observe comings and goings and had left his wife in charge on the two occasions he decided to rob the bank, police sources added. Athletes missing Three army athletes from Bangladesh, visiting Athens to participate in the World Military Indoor Athletics Cup, were considered missing yesterday after failing to turn up at the Paiania volleyball complex on Saturday for their events. The athletes had been staying at the Holiday Inn with fellow athletes from 15 other countries. Police were scouring the capital to find them. Officer suspended A senior police officer who shot a 59-year-old cafe owner in Thiseion, Athens, following a dispute while off duty on Friday afternoon has been suspended, police said on Saturday. The cafe owner, who was shot in the lung, is in intensive care after undergoing several hours of surgery. According to sources, the officer had only just been reissued with his service weapon after having undergone therapy for psychological problems. Migrants intercepted Port Authority officials at Igoumenitsa, in northwestern Greece, on Saturday detained 59 illegal immigrants and three suspected traffickers, all foreigners, after two searches of trucks about to board ferries to Italy. In the first truck, officials found 52 would-be migrants hidden in a special compartment. The driver of the second truck had hidden seven illegal immigrants in his vehicle. The ethnic origin of the migrants was unclear. Violent mugging A 47-year-old security firm employee was hospitalized on Saturday after two assailants jumped him as he was getting out of the company truck in the Thessaloniki district of Kalamaria, beat him and stole the cash he was carrying. Thessaloniki police subsequently issued a statement calling on other guards entrusted with carrying cash to be particularly careful when getting in and out of vehicles and to vary their routes.

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