In Brief
Detainee death
Suspected robber dies from stab wound in police custody Police yesterday were investigating the apparent suicide of a 32-year-old Polish national, who reportedly stabbed himself in the neck with a shard of glass during his detention at the precinct in Kypseli, near central Athens. The exact circumstances of the incident were not made public, although officers reportedly made efforts to save the man but he died before the ambulance arrived. The 32-year-old had been arrested on July 30 for attempted robbery and had been awaiting transfer to jail. Pension thieves Armed duo net 30,000 euros Two armed robbers burst into a cafe in the village of Domokos, in the prefecture of Fthiotida, yesterday morning, and forced an employee of Hellenic Postbank (ELTA), who had been distributing pension payments to locals, to hand over some 30,000 euros in cash. According to witnesses, some 20 pensioners had been waiting to receive their pensions from the ELTA worker when the robbers turned up. The pair, who were both wearing crash helmets, took the cash and fled. No one was injured in the raid. Pigeon killer An unidentified individual is believed to have single-handedly poisoned hundreds of pigeons in Kotzia Square, central Athens, on Sunday afternoon, municipal officials said. According to Deputy Mayor Andreas Papadakis, municipal teams gathered more than 500 dead birds from the square. A witness told police that she saw a motorcyclist stop and start scattering seeds to the birds on Sunday afternoon. Half an hour after he left, the square was full of dead birds, the witness said. IKA head Rovertos Spyropoulos yesterday officially took over as president of the Social Security Fund (IKA) during a ceremony conducted by Labor and Social Insurance Minister Andreas Loverdos. Spyropoulos, formerly general secretary of the Interior Ministry, replaces Theodoros Abatzoglou, who also attended yesterday’s ceremony and was congratulated by Loverdos for his work over the past nine months, credited with bringing about a small increase in revenue. Thessaloniki muggings Police in Thessaloniki said yesterday that they were investigating a string of muggings near the city center. The officers said they were seeking five assailants who violently forced a 30-year-old man to hand over a bag containing two cell phones and other valuables. Police said they had detained two suspects, aged 23 and 19, believed to have forced two more people, both 20, to give them their cell phones. Two Greeks, aged 19, and an 18-year-old migrant were also detained, accused of stopping an 18-year-old motorcyclist and making off with his cell phone and jewelry. Treasure hunter A foreign national allegedly seen wandering around the grounds of the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus yesterday with a metal detector was detained for questioning yesterday on suspicion of seeking to trade in illegally acquired artifacts. Police said they found a fragment of a ceramic jug in his possession.
