In Brief
Fratricide case
Man, 22, admits to killing his 18-year-old brother The 22-year-old brother of an 18-year-old youth who was found stabbed to death on Wednesday in the house that the two men had shared in Kaminia, near Piraeus, yesterday was given an extension until Monday to prepare his defense before an investigating magistrate. According to police, the 22-year-old admitted to stabbing his brother repeatedly following an argument. It was unclear yesterday whether the defendant would face manslaughter or murder charges. Bomb hoax Athens courts targeted again Police evacuated the capital’s main Evelpidon court complex yesterday morning after an anonymous caller contacted the daily Eleftherotypia to say that two bombs had been planted at the complex – a warning that turned out to be a hoax. A similar call had been made to Eleftherotypia on Monday and also turned out to be a hoax. Yesterday’s call, made at 7.30 a.m., warned that bombs would go off at Evelpidon at 9.30 a.m. Bomb disposal experts inspected the area and found no suspect devices. Smuggling racket Police in Igoumenitsa, northwestern Greece, said yesterday that they had broken a ring of Afghans believed to have been smuggling would-be migrants from Patra to the northwestern port. Police arrested one suspected ring member in Igoumenitsa and two in Alimos, southern Athens. An Austrian truck driver who had concealed five migrants aboard his vehicle was also arrested in Patra. Farmers protest Protesting farmers from the northern prefectures of Serres and Kavala blocked key junctions of the national road network yesterday, complaining about low crop prices and high production costs. Agricultural Development and Food Minister Katerina Batzeli is due to visit Larissa today for meetings with farmers there. Producers from the broader Thessaly region have threatened to intensify protest action next week. Drugs in jail A 24-year-old Albanian national being detained by the Patra coast guard yesterday faced a prosecutor in the western port after allegedly trying to pass a package containing more than 1 kilo of heroin to his sister who visited him at the detention center. The suspect’s sister was also detained along with a friend of hers and a Greek real estate agent who had accompanied her during the visit. According to sources, the 24-year-old had asked a coast guard official to give his sister a large bottle that had been gift-wrapped. The bottle contained 1.1 kilograms of heroin, authorities said. Double murder A 28-year-old Kurdish man has admitted to killing an 89-year-old man and his 63-year-old wife in March last year at the couple’s ground-floor apartment in Dafni, southern Athens, police said yesterday. The pair died of multiple wounds inflicted with an iron bar and knife. Police said the 28-year-old owned up to breaking into the pair’s home and attacking them both before fleeing with 50 euros, two cell phones, some jewelry and a television.
