In Brief
ISAP disruption
Monastiraki-Attiki section to stay closed until end of 2010 The section of the Piraeus-Kifissia urban electric railway (ISAP) between Monastiraki and Attiki is to remain out of service until the end of the year due to ongoing works, ISAP’s management said yesterday. As a concession for the inconvenience the suspension will cause, the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) said that commuters with monthly travel cards for the ISAP line will be able to use their tickets on lines 2 and 3 of the Athens metro – on the section Monastiraki-Omonia-Attiki – until the service resumes. Fava ‘protected’ Island puree gets EU stamp The version of fava, a popular split pea puree, made on the southern Aegean island of Santorini, is to be included on the European Union’s official list of «protected designations of origin» (PDO) and «protected geographical indication» (PGI), it emerged yesterday. The puree joins a list of another 87 goods produced in different parts of Greece – including olives and olive oil as well as various fruits and vegetables and different types of cheese – that enjoy the special PDO and PGI status. The use of EU symbols on the labels of such products provides consumers with information regarding the products’ origin. Mugging ring Twenty-two suspected members of a mugging and car theft ring believed to have targeted dozens of people in central Athens were in police custody yesterday. Officers from the Aghios Panteleimonas and Kolonos police precincts worked together to arrest the suspects, 16 Algerians and six Afghans, on Sunday. The suspects are believed to have carried out 35 muggings and 45 car thefts over the past six months. The muggings targeted women who were stripped of purses and jewelry. Police found large quantities of jewelry, cell phones, purses and watches in raids on two apartments in central Athens. Smugglers nabbed Four suspected human traffickers and two immigrants with forged papers have been arrested on Rhodes and in Piraeus, police said yesterday. The arrests appeared to be linked and police think they have broken a smuggling ring. One alleged trafficker was arrested as he disembarked a passenger ferry on Rhodes. He was found to be carrying forged travel documents bearing the photographs of two other men who were traveling with him. All three were arrested. Coast guard officers in Piraeus then arrested a man who took delivery of a package from Rhodes containing material to create forged travel documents. His home in the eastern Athens neighborhood of Pangrati was searched and two more men were arrested there. Corpse probe Police yesterday were investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of an elderly man found with head wounds in his home on the island of Salamina, off Piraeus. Officers believe that the man was probably attacked by burglars as there were signs that his home had been broken into.
