Playing cat and mouse with N17
The pursuit of the November 17 terrorist gang entered a new, delicate phase yesterday. Police officers concluded their search of hideouts and weapons caches they found last week and were waiting for the results of DNA testing and ballistics tests on weapons to tie suspects – many of whom they have already questioned – to the group’s activities. Senior Public Order Ministry officials said late last night that their immediate priority was to get the laboratory test results. «We are now getting to the juicy part,» one source said. «We are going to move ahead in an orderly fashion, without haste,» a senior police officer said. «The search cannot be conducted at the pace demanded by the news media,» he added in a comment on the endless hypotheses (usually presented as fact) by many TV channels and newspapers on the identity of November 17’s members and leaders. The government spokesman, too, stepped into the fray yesterday, condemning the abandon with which many journalists and «experts» were bandying about the names of people whom they considered suspects. «Unacceptable conjecture is touching on the limits of the despicable,» spokesman Christos Protopappas commented. He called on political parties and the journalists’ union to «isolate these symptoms that cause shame.» The union, ESIEA, issued a statement condemning the «irresponsible behavior» of some news media. Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis told Kathimerini yesterday that: «The following days will be decisive and fruitful for the security services.» He expressed certainty that November 17 members, especially those involved in its actions, will be arrested. «All the pieces are being laid out,» he said. «Everything must be done with sure movements, because the people who are on the run are dangerous.» Police sources said that the talk about who the leaders of November 17 might be would not disorient them. They know many details of the shadowy leader of the gang that has killed 23 people since 1975 with seeming impunity but they do not know his name. He is believed to be about 60 and to have spent long periods in France, where he is said to have taught in a university. This has led to intense speculation and the naming of names by many journalists and their guests on talk shows and news bulletins. One of those named, the novelist Vassilis Vassilikos (whose book Z became a popular film directed by Costas Gavras in 1969) protested that his name had been mentioned in the speculation. He warned that he could sue to protect his reputation. Police are believed to have received information from Savvas Xeros, an alleged November 17 member who was injured by a bomb he was carrying on June 29. He was visited briefly by his father, a retired priest, in the Evangelismos Hospital’s ICU yesterday. Xeros’s lawyer protested that he has not been allowed to see his client. Officers believe they know who Xeros’s closest associates are, and they have them under tight watch. Sources said Xeros’s fingerprints were found on the motorcycle used by two November 17 gunmen in the murder of British defense attache Stephen Saunders in 2000.
