In Bief
KILLER COUPLE
Pair linked to buried corpse ‘also burned old woman alive’ A 20-year-old man from the northern city of Drama and his 40-year-old girlfriend who have been charged with the murder of a 39-year-old man, whose corpse was found buried under a henhouse in the couple’s backyard in the village of Sitagroi last week, are thought to be behind another murder, police said. Police in Drama believe the pair to be connected to the death of an elderly woman who was burned alive in her home in the northern city in January. The pair are believed to have robbed the 83-year-old before setting fire to her home. SIEMENS PROBE Suspect must stay in Greece The Council of Appeals Court Judges yesterday approved a prosecutor’s proposal that a ban on leaving the country be imposed on Giorgos Tsougranis, a close friend of former Transport Minister Tasos Mantelis, who last month admitted to accepting money from Siemens. Mantelis told MPs last month that Siemens paid the equivalent of 100,000 euros into the account of his best man, Tsougranis, in 1998. Tsougranis now faces charges of money laundering. ISAP disruption The section of the Piraeus-Kifissia urban electric railway (ISAP) between Ano Patissia and Neratziotissa will be out of service today and tomorrow due to engineering works. Passengers can use the X17 replacement bus service for this section. The section between Nea Ionia and Neratziotissa will also be closed from Monday through Friday. Passengers can use the X18 bus. Salonika blasts Unidentified arsonists used homemade explosive devices comprising gas canisters to hit two union and one government targets in Thessaloniki early yesterday afternoon, causing damage but no injuries. Two of the bombs detonated almost simultaneously at the offices of the local doctors’ union and the home of a senior regional official for the health service. The third device, which had been planted outside the local offices of the Health Ministry, did not detonate. Earlier yesterday a similar explosive device, also made of gas canisters, detonated outside a bank in Kalamaria, near Thessaloniki, causing damage but no injuries. Child molester Police in Larissa, central Greece, yesterday detained a 33-year-old man alleged to have molested a 9-year-old girl in the foyer of an apartment block in the city center. The child’s cries attracted the attention of residents in the block who came to her aid but the suspect fled before they arrived. Police arrested the 33-year-old on the basis of a description given by the girl to her parents. Kalashnikov robbers Police yesterday were seeking two robbers who held up a branch of National Bank in Aghioi Theodoroi, near Corinth, on Thursday, wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles, before making off with an unspecified sum. No one was hurt in the raid, which culminated in the robbers fleeing in a car reported as stolen a few days before.
