Terrorist suspect to appear in court
A 26-year-old man arrested in Athens on Tuesday as a suspected member of the increasingly active Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire terrorist group is due to defend himself before an investigating magistrate today. Police said they had been seeking the suspect since a raid last September on the group’s hideout in the northeastern Athens district of Halandri where his fingerprints are said to have been found. The man, who was not identified, has been known to police since his arrest in May 2006 after allegedly participating in violence during a rally organized by the leftist European Social Forum in Athens. After his release on conditional terms, the suspect had been reporting to a police station regularly. It was during one of these visits on Tuesday that he was arrested. Three suspected members of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire have been in detention since the September raid and arrest warrants have been issued for several more. In recent months, the relatively new terror group had stepped up its attacks, targeting several politicians in attacks using small homemade bombs made of cooking pots and timers, which however did not cause any injuries. The group also claimed partial responsibility for a bomb attack on December 27 against an insurance firm in Athens. A message posted on the Internet after the bloodless attack said that the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire had orchestrated the attack along with the little-known Terrorist Guerrilla Group. No one was hurt in the blast that was caused by a device containing some 3 kilos of dynamite. Initially police had thought that the more established Revolutionary Struggle had planted the insurance firm bomb, as the attack resembled similar attacks claimed by the terrorist group in the past.