Four suspected members of a militant anarchist group believed to be responsible for dozens of bomb blasts over the past four years have been detained in custody until Tuesday, when they are to defend themselves before an investigating magistrate on multiple crime and misdemeanour charges.
A prosecutor on Friday identified the four suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire as Harilaos Hatzimichelakis, Emmanouil Yiospas, Myrto Panteloglou and Panayiotis Masouras.
The charges they face include participating in bomb attacks, membership in a criminal organisation and the illegal possession of explosives and concerning two bomb attacks – one on the Kolonaki home of opposition PASOK deputy Louka Katseli on Wednesday and another in July that targeted the home of former Deputy Interior Minister Panayiotis Hinofotis in Palaio Faliro.
The attack on Hinofotis, for which Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire claimed responsibility at the time, was carried out using a bomb planted in a cooking pot, almost identical to a device used in the attack on Katseli’s home and another, intact, device discovered at a house in the Athens district of Halandri, which the group is believed to have used as a hideout.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for another six suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.
These suspects were identified as Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Damianos Balanos, Giorgos Karayiannidis, Eleni Contopoulou and Constantinos Karakatsanis.
Police said that they had found the fingerprints of all six suspects in the Halandri hideout.
Sources said that they believed the group had maintained a second hideout in the district of Galatsi.
Four people were detained for questioning by the police counter-terrorism squad on Wednesday night after the discovery earlier in the afternoon of an alleged urban terrorist safehouse in the northern Athens district of Halandri.
Explosives, pressure cookers and printed material were found in a residence.
The police counter-terrorism squad have been monitoring the suspects and several houses in anticipation of a politically motivated attack ahead of the October 4 elections.
