In Brief
Actor’s murder
Trial of Georgian charged with killing Sergianopoulos begins The trial of a 40-year-old Georgian man charged with murdering popular actor Nikos Sergianopoulos in June 2008 began in Athens yesterday with testimony from the coroner who conducted the autopsy on the deceased as well as by friends of Sergianopoulos. One of the actor’s friends reportedly told the court that the victim had met with the Georgian defendant two nights in a row, the night of the murder and the night before. Last August, the Georgian allegedly admitted to stabbing the 56-year-old actor at the latter’s Pangrati home and expressed remorse. The trial is to resume on October 9. Drug ring Two detained after large hauls Two members of a cross-border ring believed to have been smuggling large quantities of cannabis and cocaine into the country from Albania faced a prosecutor yesterday on the Dodecanese island of Rhodes. The arrests of the 18-year-old ethnic Greek from Albania and the 53-year-old Greek followed raids that unearthed 73 kilos of cannabis and 3 kilos of cocaine believed to have been destined for distribution in Athens. Police said they are seeking at least another three suspected ring members. Office break-in Unidentified intruders broke into a tax office in Thessaloniki over the weekend, opened two safes using welding guns and made off with an unspecified sum and several documents, police said. The thieves deactivated the office’s alarm system so that they could take their time opening up the safes, according to police. Volos burglary Police in Volos, central Greece, yesterday were seeking two young burglars who broke into the house of a 75-year-old woman in the nearby fishing village of Achilleio and tied her up before searching the property for valuables. The intruders made off with 600 euros from a cupboard drawer, the woman told police. Hash garden A 39-year-old man was yesterday being questioned on drug-related charges by police in Corinth after officers uprooted 59 cannabis trees in the yard of what is believed to be the man’s weekend home in the nearby village of Korfos. Police said they had been monitoring the site for several weeks. Soldier death A 23-year-old soldier posted on Crete died of a heart attack yesterday during a physical training exercise, defense officials said. The man, who was not named, was transferred to a hospital in Rethymno after losing unconsciousness during the exercises but died shortly afterward. Halkidiki quake An undersea quake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale rattled the northern prefecture of Halkidiki yesterday shortly before 11 a.m. but caused no damage or injuries. The epicenter of the quake was located off the southeastern tip of Cassandra, the first prong of the Halkidiki peninsula, seismologists said. It was followed by two weaker tremors.
