Galery

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An armed bank robbery with a hostage that is supposed to have been organized by terrorists has mobilized the Greek police.

The robbery was carried out shortly after 01:00 pm in a branch of the National Bank of Greece in the town of Distomo in Viotia area. Witnesses state that three people with masks and guns had raided the bank, not excluding the possibility of one of them holding a submachine gun. Having rendered the clients and employees inoffensive, they stole around 300,000 euro from the safe. The police believe that a fourth person was also involved, his task being to watch what was happening outside during the robbery.  

Upon leaving the bank, the three men had held hostage the teller and used him as a shield to secure themselves an unhampered escape. Some sources claim that they had taken the man with them, as they thought that he had pressed a secret alarm button. Several hours later, the man was released in the region of Kato Loutra near Xilokastro.

Initially, the robbers fled with a stolen jeep. When they reached the beach of Agios Sotiras, they set fire to it and police found it burnt. According to recent reports, the robbers had crossed the Gulf of Corinth on inflatable boat. Witnesses say that after they got out of it the two men got in two jeeps and set off in different directions.

The major operation to find them involves police officers from the region and Athens and it is under the control of the anti-terrorism service. The suspicions that the robbers are terrorists are due to their weapons, as well as to the fact that they have burnt the jeep to hide evidence and escaped by boat. The authorities say their modus operandi reminds a lot of the bank robbery on the island of Spetses that was carried out in 2012 by the group of recently captured terrorist Nikos Maziotis.