Student turned terrorist
Savvas Xeros is the fourth of 10 children of a retired priest from Aghios Kirikos on the island of Icaria, who for many years served in the prefecture of Florina, where Xeros spent his childhood. When his father was persecuted by the military junta the family moved to Thessaloniki, where one of his siblings still lives. His parents live in a country home in Ambelakia, in Nea Kallikreateia. Local residents describe Xeros as a quiet person who never discussed politics. He often used to visit his parents, sometimes accompanied by his Spanish girlfriend Alicia Romero Cortes, whom he met in 1990 while on holiday in Icaria. It was while studying hydrodynamics at Thessaloniki University that Xeros first came in contact with the anarchist movement. In 1983 he met Angeliki Sotiropoulou, whom he later married and with whom he had a child, now aged 12. It is believed that his first mission for November 17 was the December 1984 robbery of a National Bank branch in Petralona, Athens, in which policeman Christos Matis was killed. In 1990, Xeros moved to Athens and began working as a carpenter and icon painter. Neighbors at his workshop in Kolonos, which he rented about four or five years ago, say he used to come there with a group of four youths and a man aged 55-60. It was also about five years ago that Xeros met his Sudanese associate Maki El Daou, who is married to a Greek woman and lives in Piraeus. Xeros’s many homes, trips abroad and business dealings are being closely investigated for clues to the ways terrorism is funded, as Xeros’s movements are believed to be indicative of a system of financial cover-ups, perhaps connected to bank robberies.
