Terror’s ‘game is up’
Police are expected to make public today photographs of the contents of two hideouts in which weapons, explosives, documents and symbols of the November 17 terrorist group were found last week. This will most probably be accompanied by announcements concerning the suspects in the case, a senior Public Order Ministry official told Kathimerini. «The knot of terrorism is being unraveled,» the same source said. «The game is up.» He said that «several important issues are developing in the investigation» that will allow authorities to provide information regarding November 17’s operations. According to all indications and information, the anti-terrorism service has found out who rented the second hideout, which was found at 73 Damareos Street, Pangrati, on Saturday. The first hideout, in Kato Patissia, was rented by Savvas Xeros, a 40-year-old icon painter who was seriously injured while allegedly preparing to plant a bomb in Piraeus on June 29. Laboratory tests on evidence in the two hideouts have helped draw a picture of who Xeros’s accomplices were. Although they have gone into hiding, police say they know their names and have their descriptions and it is just a question of time as to when they will be caught. Sources said that police believe the man who rented the apartment in Pangrati is now the companion of Xeros’s former wife, Angeliki Sotiropoulou. Witnesses have told the police that this person would also visit the Patissia hideout. Police are looking for another two or three people who would visit the hideouts and also took part in action, usually as backup. A man and woman known as «the Piraeus team» are believed to have been with Xeros when he was injured. They could have been the couple who tried to learn about his condition after he was taken to hospital. The sources said the couple’s contacts with Italy were being investigated. Officers of Scotland Yard were briefed on the investigation again yesterday. They showed special interest in DNA and ballistic test results that could be the basis of incontrovertible evidence in court. The foreign officers trained the Greeks to use new technologies and to gather evidence against suspects. Government spokesman Christos Protopappas condemned the Alter TV channel for showing a photograph of a bloodied and unconscious Xeros in a hospital bed. «This is an act which violates every sense of ethics and legality,» he said. Papandreou said compensation beyond the emergency aid would depend on the extent of the damage, but she said the State was willing to cover the costs of rented accommodation for those whose homes were uninhabitable.
