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Crime

Athens: Letter-bomb suspect arrested

October 28, 2017

A 29-year-old parcel-bomb suspect has been arrested by Greek police probing intimidation of European figures involved in Greece's financial bailouts. In May, Greek ex-premier Lucas Papademos was wounded.

https://p.dw.com/p/2mfWr
Forensic inspection of Papademos' car in Athens in May
Image: Reuters/C. Baltas

An Athens police source quoted by Reuters said Saturday the suspect had been under surveillance after being spotted bringing parcels to the post on "five different occasions."

Initially, police issued no name for the suspect other than describing him as a 29-year-old man and saying he had been arrested in Athens by an anti-terror unit.

"The search continues for other suspects," police said in a statement.

Papademos, 70, was seriously injured in the thigh and torso on May 25 when he opened a letter bomb in his car. He was hospitalized for over a month.

Wounded in the May attack - Lucas Papademos
Wounded in the May attack - Lucas PapademosImage: Picture alliance/dpa/epa/O. Panagiotou

'Conspiracy of Fire'

That attack, which remains unclaimed, resembled an explosive device mailed to Paris in March and claimed by a far-left group, Conspiracy of Fire, which injured an assistant of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The group had previously claimed responsibility for a letter bomb — also sent from Greece — that was discovered in the Berlin mailroom of Germany's then-Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, regarded by Greeks as a hardliner of austere remedies.

Around that time, eight other letter bombs were intercepted, including devices addressed to EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici and then-Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

The bombs contained gunpowder typically used in firecrackers.

Long jail terms

Dozens of young members of Conspiracy of Fire are serving long prison sentences after being convicted of "participating in a criminal organization."

In 2012, Papademos' government at the time faced criticism after it negotiated a huge write-down of Greece's privately held debt, which led to social insurance losses.

Papademos also served as Bank of Greece governor from 1994 to 2002.

ipj/jm (AFP, Reuters, AP)

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