Posted by keeptalkinggreece
An interesting development has been recorded in what initially seemed a plaincriminal bank robbery. A DNA test from a sample found at the crime scene turned out to match the DNA of an alleged terrorist on the run. The genetics material belongs to Anastasios Theofilou, 29, and police investigates whether the man who was arrested on Saturday had suspected links to the local urban guerrilla group “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire”. Furthermore police investigates whether the bank robbery had the aim to ‘raise funds’ for terrorist activities.
Anastasios Theofilou, was arrested in Athens in connection with a fatal bank robbery on the island of Paros earlier this month. Theophilou and two accomplices had robbed the local Alpha Bank and shot dead taxi driver Dimitris Michas, 53, when he tried to stop them while they were fleeing the crime scene.
Theofilou was arrested on Saturday outside Kerameikos metro station in Athens after police matched his DNA to that from a cap that was found on August 10 at the scene of the Paros robbery.
“Police spokesman Christos Manouras said on Monday that Theofilou had first come to the force’s attention in November 2010, shortly before they arrested suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire in Agrinio, central Greece. Theofilou was not among those arrested. The group carried out a series of bloodless bomb attacks in 2009 and 2010.Theofilou denies all offends. However the police leaks to the press, that it is close to identify and catch at least two more robbers involved in the Paros robbery.
Manouras said that the suspect graduated from the Theology Department of Aristotle University in his native Thessaloniki but had spent most of his time in Athens since 2010. Police suspect the robbers left Paros by boat the day after the raid on the branch of Alpha Bank and that Theofilou traveled to Lamia, central Greece, to prepare for another bank robbery there. Manouras said officers found a video of the bank and surrounding streets at an apartment in Lamia that had been rented by Theofilou. They said that the images had been shot by placing the camera in a special holder on a bicycle.
Police are not ruling out the possibility that Theofilou took part in other robberies and have begun studying CCTV footage from previous raids. They also took the unusual step of releasing footage from the Paros bank’s security cameras in the hope of receiving help from the public in identifying the two other suspects involved in the holdup. Officers also revealed that Theofilou had seven keys in his possession when he was caught. Police believe that one of these keys is to the hideout where the guns and money from the Paros robbery has been hidden. “(ekathimerini)
Footage from Paros bank robbery
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