Nov17 history unfolds
Police probing the hideout of the November 17 terrorist organization say that they are overwhelmed by the documentary evidence they have found, along with weapons, explosives and other materiel, in the central Athens flat. Sources said yesterday that officers sifting through the small apartment had discovered the organization’s documents in dozens of boxes, documents that will be able to shed plenty of light on November 17’s 27 years of operations. These are said to include the minutes of meetings, dialogues, the group’s founding declaration, thoughts, opinions and disagreements at turning points in its history. Also, police continued to question suspects and were looking for three particular individuals who were known to use the hideout at 84 Patmou Street along with Savvas Xeros, the 40-year-old painter of icons who was seriously injured by a bomb that he was preparing to plant in the port of Piraeus last Saturday. Sources said that police had raided the homes of the three and collected evidence such as fingerprints and photographs which could be used to tie them to the terrorist gang. Investigators allowed Xeros’s former wife, Angeliki Sotiropoulou, 40, to go home yesterday after questioning her overnight. Police spokesman Lefteris Economou said that people were being questioned as witnesses but that no one had been arrested. Xeros is to be questioned once he is completely lucid, officials said. He was in critical condition with injuries to a hand, his face and chest, but has been taken off life support and is recovering. Police believe he is a senior member of the group, able to provide valuable information. Prime Minister Costas Simitis commended the police for the breakthrough. «This was not a chance result. It came because of hard, systematic work,» he told a party conference. Police were also looking into whether November 17 members might have been involved in three armed robberies in which a total of 1.08 million euros (370 million drachmas) were stolen. This is aside from the National Bank robbery in 1984 in which a police officer was killed and robbed of his handgun, which turned up near the injured Xeros on Saturday night. The most recent robbery took place near Patmou Street. Four armed men using two motorcycles robbed a security company van of 380,000 euros (130 million drachmas) on April 2. On December 3, 2001, a man with a handgun and hand grenade robbed the OTE offices on Patission Street of 176,000 euros (60 million drachmas). Also, police were looking into the robbery at the Nikaia State Hospital on June 1, 1995, in which a hospital clerk was shot dead and 528,000 euros (180 million drachmas) stolen. Six people were convicted of this crime.
