The Greek counter-terrorism unit has arrested 14 people – 13 Greeks and one foreign national – on charges of funding a terrorist organization and money laundering.

The defendants, 11 men and three women, were arrested on Tuesday morning on arrest warrants issued by an investigative magistrate.

The investigation began on October 28 after the arrest of 29-year-old Constantinos Giatzoglou who sent a letter bomb that seriously injured former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos earlier last year.

The 14 were found to have made deposits in a bank account used by Giatzoglou to withdraw money </s> Police in Spain on Tuesday arrested 17 men connected to a suspected network of Islamic State supporters, five of whom are accused of forming a terror cell planning to launch attacks in Barcelona, with the rest suspected of having stolen passports from tourists to support the aspiring jihadists.

The group had been the subject of covert investigation for 18 months, Catalonia’s regional police force said, meaning the probe started at a similar time to the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils of August 2017 in which 16 died.

Speaking after the raids, Miquel Buch, Catalonia’s interior chief, said there had been no risk “at any time” of the group pulling off an attack as they were being closely tracked by the police with support from Spain’s CNI secret service.

“Those arrested wanted to commit attacks, but that doesn’t mean they had the actual capacity to carry out a terrorist act”, Mr Buch said.

Five men aged between 33 and 44 were believed to have made up the hardcore of the cell. Police said three of them are from Algeria, while one is Libyan the other Iraqi. All of the suspects lived in Barcelona. </s> Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis expressed his dismay at the continued detention of two Greek servicemen who were arrested in early March for straying into Turkish territory during a border patrol, citing the lawful response of Greek authorities to similar cases involving three Turkish nationals.

 

 “It is not just the case of the Turk who entered Greek territory and was tried,” he told parliament on Monday, referring to the Turkish municipal worker who was apprehended on the Greek side of the border near the village of Kastanies on May 2, charged with illegal entry and then deported on May 5.

 

 Kontonis revealed that two more Turkish nationals who were detained recently at the port of Killini, in western Greece, were subsequently released by an administrative court in the city of Pyrgos, after the judge accepted the Turkish consulate in Athens as their fixed residence.

 

 “I'm saying this to inform parliament and the public, to make it clear that Greece respects the rule of law. Because when the Greek consulate attended the trial of the two Greek officers and declared the Greek consulate [...] as their place of residence, the similar request to release them was not accepted by the Turkish court,” he said, referring to the court ruling in Edirne.

 

 “Greece upholds the rule of law and does not draw parallels between different illegal and irregular acts,” he said.

 

 “This is a message, not only to the neighboring country, but also to the international community from which we expect a more stable attitude on the issue of the two Greek officers who, to this day, do not know what they are accused of,” he added. </s> PARIS — French prosecutors are investigating a possible Greek link after a letter exploded Thursday at the Paris' office of the International Monetary Fund, lightly injuring one person.

The IMF incident came as a Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility for a letter bomb sent to the German Finance Ministry the day before.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Thursday night investigators found "residues of Greek stamps" on the letter bomb at the IMF's office in the French capital.

French President Francois Hollande called Thursday's explosion in Paris "an attack" and noted "a similarity with another event of the same nature in Berlin. ... We are trying to establish the causes of what happened as part of an international investigation."

Authorities in Athens confirmed the Greek lead in the investigation.

"We've just been informed by the French authorities that [the parcel] was posted from Greece," Greece's deputy minister for public order Nikos Toskas told Antenna TV.

Toskas added that whoever sent the Paris' letter bomb used the name of a senior Greek conservative opposition lawmaker, Vassilis Kikilias, and "the address of an office that is no longer in use."

The failed letter bomb sent Wednesday to the German Finance Ministry also had the name of a false sender, that of another senior lawmaker from the same party, Adonis Georgiadis. </s> Turkish authorities have issued arrest warrants for eight soldiers who fled to Greece after July's failed coup attempt in Turkey, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

The decision by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s office came directly after Greece’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday against the extradition of the soldiers, accused by Turkey of being involved in last summer's abortive putsch.

Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Greece of protecting coup plotters and failing in the fight against terrorism.

In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said the Greek ruling appears politically motivated, is against international law, and breaches the rights of the victims of the July 15 coup attempt. It said Turkey would continue efforts to ensure the soldiers’ extradition and prosecution.

“We protest this decision which prevents these individuals who have threatened the life of our president and took an active role in a coup attempt that killed 248 of our citizens ... from appearing in front of Turkish judiciary,” the statement said.

“Once again Greece, an ally and a neighbour, has failed to fulfill the basics of the fight against terrorism,” it said, also accusing Athens of harbouring far-left and Kurdish militant groups that have carried out attacks in Turkey.

The men—three majors, three captains and two sergeant-majors—landed a helicopter in northern Greece on July 16 and sought political asylum saying they feared for their lives in Turkey. They deny a role in the attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan, which led to a purge of the military and civil service.

The eight stand accused of attempting to abrogate the Turkish constitution and dissolve parliament, seizing a helicopter using violence, and of attempting to assassinate Erdogan.

“The possibility of their rights being violated or reduced regardless of the degree of guilt or the gravity of the crimes they are accused of does not allow the implementation of extradition rules,” a Greek Supreme Court president said.

The court ruled that the soldiers, who have been kept in protective custody pending final decisions on their asylum applications, must be freed. The rulings cannot be overturned.

In addition to demanding their extradition, Turkey has branded the men traitors, in a case which has highlighted the sometimes strained relations between the two neighbours and NATO allies at odds over a series of issues ranging from the divided island of Cyprus to air fights over the Aegean Sea.

Their lawyer Christos Mylonopoulos said the verdict was “a big victory for European values”.

The two countries play an important role in the handling of Europe’s worst migration crisis in decades and the EU depends on Ankara to enforce a deal to stem mass migration to Europe. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The soldiers, who appeared at the Greek Supreme Court on Thursday, say they would not receive a fair trial in Turkey

Turkey has reacted with anger after a Greek court ruled against extraditing eight Turkish soldiers accused of involvement in an attempted coup.

Turkey accused Greece of failing in the "fight against terrorism" and said the decision was "politically motivated".

The eight men fled in a helicopter to Greece after last July's coup attempt but say they were not involved.

Presiding judge Giorgos Sakkas said the men were unlikely to receive a fair trial in Turkey.

Turkey has demanded the three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors return to stand trial. The soldiers have argued their lives would be in danger.

They are accused of playing a significant part in the coup attempt on 15 July 2016, and of having links with a group which allegedly tried to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the night of the attempted coup.

"We protest this decision which prevents these individuals who have threatened the life of our president and took an active role in a coup attempt that killed 248 of our citizens... from appearing in front of Turkish judiciary," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.

In retaliation to the Greek Supreme Court's ruling, an Istanbul court has approved a request from prosecutors for an arrest warrant for the eight soldiers.

A turn for the worse: Analysis by the BBC's Selin Girit in Istanbul

Turkish-Greek relations have gone through very difficult phases in the past, but the general understanding was that those days were over. Now, relations between the two countries risk a dramatic turn for the worse.

Ankara's heavy-handed response in contesting the Greek Supreme Court's ruling with the issuing of an arrest warrant is a clear accusation to Athens of a failure to co-operate in the arrests of Kurdish or ultra-leftist militants in the past - a general understanding shared by nationalists in Turkey.

The extradition bid had become a source of tension between Ankara and Athens in the last few months. Several closed-door meetings reportedly took place between the two countries' foreign ministry officials but no solution could be reached.

The case has presented a diplomatic dilemma for Greece and created new tensions between the two Nato allies. They have a complex relationship and are currently working together to help negotiate a peace deal in divided Cyprus.

Greek Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis said before the verdict that he would respect the decision and not intervene.

The eight soldiers in Greece have said that their relatives in Turkey have lost jobs and had their passports confiscated since they fled.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The short-lived coup saw tanks on the streets of the Turkish capital Ankara

Read more

In the wake of the coup attempt, tens of thousands of people from every level of Turkish society have been purged from their jobs, including military officers, government officials and schoolteachers.

Critics of Mr Erdogan say he has used the failed uprising as a way of removing his opponents and tightening his hold on power.

The Turkish government says that it has taken legitimate action to root out "terrorist" groups that had infiltrated the state.

It blamed US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who leads a mass movement in Turkey, for the bloody coup attempt. He denies any involvement.

Soon after the soldiers arrived in Greece, they were given two-month suspended prison sentences for illegally entering the country.

'A scandal' - Turkish media respond to the ruling, by Pinar Sevinclidir, BBC Monitoring

Pro-government news outlets have branded the decision "a scandal" and accused Greece of "protecting the coup soldiers".

Yeni Safak daily said Greece was taking the plotters under its wing and Aksam newspaper called the ruling "a historical disgrace"

A Haber TV report hinted at a diplomatic crisis, saying "the relationship between Turkey and Greece will change after this decision". </s> ROME (Reuters) - Italy on Thursday arrested five men in an operation against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism, police said, after tracing the phone contacts of the Berlin truck attacker shot in Milan in late 2016.

Suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism are seen in this picture released by Italian Police in Rome, Italy, March 29, 2018. Italian Police press office/Handout via Reuters

Four of the men, all Tunisians, were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to aid illegal immigration, while a fifth man, who is also believed to be Tunisian, was picked up for allegedly plotting militant attacks, prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said.

While the suspects played no part in the December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people, police discovered them by following the telephone records of Anis Amri, the Tunisian man shot dead near Milan four days after the assault on the Christmas market.

“No link at all has been found” between the men and the Berlin attack, said Walter Dian, an anti-terrorism police official from Latina, a city south of the capital.

Instead, police said Amri may have been heading south to acquire false documents from them.

Amri was brought to Italy after being rescued at sea from a migrant boat in February 2011, and he later spent almost four years in prison in Sicily for vandalism, threats and theft. In 2015, he was released and told to leave the country. He went to Germany.

“There’s no concrete evidence that leads us to think a specific attack was planned, but there is enough proof for us to think that this was where things were heading,” Colaiocco told reporters, referring to the man arrested on terrorism charges.

He had consulted the Internet on how to use a missile launcher, and he had looked into the cost of renting a pick-up truck as well, the prosecutor said.

Italy has already expelled other three men tied to Amri on evidence that they had become radicalized Islamists amid a general increase in expulsions over the past year.

As part of their operation, police were carrying out searches in Rome, the southern port city of Naples and the central and southern towns of Latina, Viterbo, Caserta and Matera, investigators said.

Thursday’s sweep is not connected to a series of similar raids this month, police said.

On Wednesday anti-terrorism police arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin who they said was an Islamic State sympathizer planning a possible truck attack.

Interior Minister Marco Minniti said on Wednesday the security threat to Italy from Islamic State supporters was higher than ever because more foreign fighters were attempting to return to Europe via Italy after the jihadist group suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq.

So far this year, 29 foreigners, mostly Muslims, have been expelled from Italy as suspected threats to national security. </s> ROME (Reuters) - Italy on Thursday arrested five men in an operation against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism, police said, after tracing the phone contacts of the Berlin truck attacker shot in Milan in late 2016.

Four of the men, all Tunisians, were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to aid illegal immigration, while a fifth man, who is also believed to be Tunisian, was picked up for allegedly plotting militant attacks, prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said.

While the suspects played no part in the December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people, police discovered them by following the telephone records of Anis Amri, the Tunisian man shot dead near Milan four days after the assault on the Christmas market.

“No link at all has been found” between the men and the Berlin attack, said Walter Dian, an anti-terrorism police official from Latina, a city south of the capital.

Instead, police said Amri may have been heading south to acquire false documents from them.

Amri was brought to Italy after being rescued at sea from a migrant boat in February 2011, and he later spent almost four years in prison in Sicily for vandalism, threats and theft. In 2015, he was released and told to leave the country. He went to Germany.

“There’s no concrete evidence that leads us to think a specific attack was planned, but there is enough proof for us to think that this was where things were heading,” Colaiocco told reporters, referring to the man arrested on terrorism charges.

He had consulted the Internet on how to use a missile launcher, and he had looked into the cost of renting a pick-up truck as well, the prosecutor said.

Italy has already expelled other three men tied to Amri on evidence that they had become radicalized Islamists amid a general increase in expulsions over the past year.

As part of their operation, police were carrying out searches in Rome, the southern port city of Naples and the central and southern towns of Latina, Viterbo, Caserta and Matera, investigators said.

Thursday’s sweep is not connected to a series of similar raids this month, police said.

On Wednesday anti-terrorism police arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin who they said was an Islamic State sympathizer planning a possible truck attack.

Interior Minister Marco Minniti said on Wednesday the security threat to Italy from Islamic State supporters was higher than ever because more foreign fighters were attempting to return to Europe via Italy after the jihadist group suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq.

So far this year, 29 foreigners, mostly Muslims, have been expelled from Italy as suspected threats to national security. </s> ROME (Reuters) - Italy on Thursday arrested five men in an operation against suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism, police said, after tracing the phone contacts of the Berlin truck attacker shot in Milan in late 2016.

 Four of the men, all Tunisians, were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to aid illegal immigration, while a fifth man, who is also believed to be Tunisian, was picked up for allegedly plotting militant attacks, prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said.

 While the suspects played no part in the December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people, police discovered them by following the telephone records of Anis Amri, the Tunisian man shot dead near Milan four days after the assault on the Christmas market. 

 "No link at all has been found" between the men and the Berlin attack, said Walter Dian, an anti-terrorism police official from Latina, a city south of the capital.

 Instead, police said Amri may have been heading south to acquire false documents from them.

 Amri was brought to Italy after being rescued at sea from a migrant boat in February 2011, and he later spent almost four years in prison in Sicily for vandalism, threats and theft. In 2015, he was released and told to leave the country. He went to Germany.

 "There's no concrete evidence that leads us to think a specific attack was planned, but there is enough proof for us to think that this was where things were heading," Colaiocco told reporters, referring to the man arrested on terrorism charges.

 He had consulted the Internet on how to use a missile launcher, and he had looked into the cost of renting a pick-up truck as well, the prosecutor said. 

 Italy has already expelled other three men tied to Amri on evidence that they had become radicalized Islamists amid a general increase in expulsions over the past year.

 As part of their operation, police were carrying out searches in Rome, the southern port city of Naples and the central and southern towns of Latina, Viterbo, Caserta and Matera, investigators said.

 Thursday's sweep is not connected to a series of similar raids this month, police said. 

 On Wednesday anti-terrorism police arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin who they said was an Islamic State sympathizer planning a possible truck attack.

 Interior Minister Marco Minniti said on Wednesday the security threat to Italy from Islamic State supporters was higher than ever because more foreign fighters were attempting to return to Europe via Italy after the jihadist group suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq.

 So far this year, 29 foreigners, mostly Muslims, have been expelled from Italy as suspected threats to national security.

 

 (Writing by Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer; Editing by Alison Williams)
Greek officials arrest 14 men, all but one of which are Greek nationals, on suspicion of funding terrorism.