In Brief
CHRISTMAS RETURN
Number of cars on the roads down by more than 10 percent Rain and snow greeted most drivers returning to Athens and Thessaloniki yesterday, as traffic police said that the number of cars that had left the cities for the countryside was down more than 10 percent on last year. Authorities had set up extra roadside checks for drunk drivers as well as closer monitoring of national highways despite the reduced number of cars on the roads. Officers said traffic was down 10.8 percent on the same period last year. HALANDRI SAFEHOUSE Police identify suspects’ prints Police say they have discovered the fingerprints of two suspected members of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire guerrilla group at an apartment in Halandri, northeastern Athens, that they raided before Christmas. In an announcement, police said that the fingerprints of Panayiotis Argyrou and Christos Tsakalos, both of whom are in custody, were discovered by forensic teams. The prints of a third suspect, Damiano Bolano, for whom there is an arrest warrant, were also found at the apartment, according to the police. Officers asked that anyone with information should call 170, 1014 or 1964. Thirteen people have been indicted in connection to the bloodless activities of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, which began its bombings in 2009. In late October and early November this year, the group sent dozens of letter bombs to embassies, public services and foreign leaders. Shot at home The body of a 46-year-old who had been shot dead was found in an apartment in the Toumba area of Thessaloniki yesterday. Police said he had been shot several times but did not reveal any more details. Child porn Two men have been arrested in Thessaloniki on suspicion of trading in child pornography, police said. The arrests of the 41-year-old pizza shop owner and 23-year-old unemployed man took place on Christmas Eve. Officers said they seized two computer hard drives containing indecent images of children. The men have not been named. Body found A man’s body was found near a soccer stadium in Patra on Christmas Day, in what police are treating as a murder case. The man’s body had been wrapped in a blanket and dumped near the side of a road at the Panpeloponnisiako Stadium. The unidentified man had been stabbed and beaten. Police are not ruling out the possibility that he was killed somewhere else and that his body was then taken to the spot where it was found. Deadly fire A 26-year-old man died from smoke inhalation in Iraklio, Crete, on Christmas Day after a fire broke out in his apartment. The fire service said that the cause of the blaze was not immediately clear. The man, who was not identified, had already died when firefighters found him. Bear run over A young brown bear was killed on Christmas Day after being hit by a vehicle on a side road to the Egnatia Highway, a nongovernmental organization said. The Arcturos group said that the bear died near the Voygatsiko exit of the national road. Vasso Petridou of Arcturos said four bears had been killed by vehicles in 2010. She added that because of the unseasonably warm weather, bears had not yet gone into winter hibernation.
