In Brief
TERRORISM
US officials praise Greek police progress US Ambassador Thomas Miller yesterday expressed his government’s and the Federal Bureau of Investigations appreciation for the progress that the Greek police have made in the war against the November 17 terrorist group. Miller, echoing the Greek government spokesman, also called for the police to be allowed to carry out their work without being pressured by rumor and speculation. Late on Monday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, said with regard to the Greek police, «We congratulate them on the successes they’ve had over the last few days and hope that they can continue to pursue this group.» POLICEMAN SUICIDE Traffic officer shoots himself after allegedly taking bribe A traffic policeman from Ioannina, who faced prosecution after allegedly accepting a 16-euro bribe to overlook a traffic violation, fatally shot himself in the head yesterday. He used his service revolver at his home in the western coastal town of Preveza where he worked for the summer. Athanassios Kalyvas, 48, went before a Preveza prosecutor on Monday following his arrest by police who had been informed of Kalyvas’s transgression by the 20-year-old man who said he had bribed him. EU FORCE Solana meets with Papandreou EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met with Foreign Minister George Papandreou on the fringes of ana international conference on Samos on Monday. They discussed the EU defense force and other EU issues, one week after Greece’s adoption of the EU presidency on defense matters. Greece objects to Turkey having a say in the force’s operations in exchange for access to NATO assets. Solana said he will talk with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem on the issue. Soldier death A 19-year-old Greek special forces soldier serving on a Greek army base in Cyprus died at a Nicosia hospital early yesterday morning after collapsing during training exercises on Monday morning, army sources said. A preliminary coroner’s report yesterday attributed the death of Patras-born Giorgos Papalexopoulos to an arterial blockage. An autopsy is to establish the exact cause of death. Illegal fishing Port authorities netted a total of 526,760 euros in penalties for illegal fishing in the first six months of this year, according to figures released yesterday. Of the 842 violations, 389 have been attributed to professional fishermen and 444 to amateurs. In nine cases, explosives or toxic substances were used to catch fish. Seikh Sou The government should expropriate properties near Thessaloniki’s Seikh Sou Forest – more than half of which was ravaged in a major fire five years ago – if there is any dispute over their ownership, Thessaloniki mayoral candidate Michalis Tremopoulos told a press conference yesterday. He said also the forest should be fenced off to allow it to replenish itself naturally without artificial reforestation. Appeals for compensation by residents claiming to have lost their property account for more land than actually exists, said Tremopoulos who heads a movement of environmentalists. Migrant trafficking A Halkida court yesterday sentenced a 65-year-old Polish national to 10 years in jail for attempting to smuggle a ship full of would-be immigrants into Greece earlier this month. Otton Nieciecki was arrested aboard the Queen off the coast of Evia on July 4. Also yesterday, port authorities stopped a sailboat carrying 28 migrants – of undetermined nationality – off the Aegean islet of Donousa, near Naxos. Cigarette smuggling Two men face prosecution on cigarette smuggling charges after police confiscated 179,500 packets of contraband cigarettes from their homes in the Athenian district of Menidi on Sunday. The cigarettes would have netted 42,000 euros in evaded tariffs for Ioannis Sasarides and Constantinos Tsamalides. Identified A body found in a street in Apsropyrgos, western Attica, on Monday has been identified as that of 22-year-old Ioannis Kanakides from Uzbekistan, police said yesterday. The body was found wrapped in a blanket, with bullet wounds in the chest and left hand.
