Photo: ethnos.gr
The Greek anti-terrorism and intelligence services are in a state of extremely high readiness following the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday. Both are already investigating various persons in Greece, who are suspected of possibly being members of a jihadist network in the country. The Greek authorities are in constant contact with their French counterparts, exchanging information on the specific persons under investigation. According to the Greek edition Ethnos, yesterday they requested general information on at least five people suspected of links with Islamic groups and they are now ready to take action.
Meanwhile, Greek Deputy Minister for Migration Yiannis Mouzalas told Skai TV that "no logical person could exclude the possibility that terrorists might have invaded Europe through Greece." Commenting on the disclosure that one of the bombers who blew up himself in front of Stade de France had entered Europe through Lesbos where he was registered, Mouzalas said, "It has been established that after Greece, Serbia and Croatia, he could have followed four possible routes but he was not registered on any of them. This is not a charge towards other countries but praise for us."
The minister's words were uttered in response to the announcement by the French authorities that Ahmad Al Mohammad's Syrian passport was actually fake. Mouzalas commented that in Turkey there was a huge industry issuing fake passports.
However, experts are not hiding their concern over the fact that the Greek authorities have failed to establish that the passport is fake. The discovery has completely changed the direction of the investigation in France. The authorities are currently working on the baseline scenario under which they are investigating whether jihadists have not deliberately had a Syrian passport in order to transfer doubts on those refugees who are leaving Syria and arriving in Europe.
It is not yet clear whether the person to whom the passport belonged had it from the moment he entered Greece and was registered on the island of Leros throughout the route to Paris.
According to the online edition protothema.gr, the Greek and French authorities are investigating the likelihood of another of the bombers in Paris having passed through Greece as well. The name of the suspect is Mahmoud Al Mahdod who travelled with Al Mohammad from the island of Kalymnos to Piraeus.
Significantly, according to the chairman of the police union in the northern Dodecanese, at least 20,000 illegal migrants and refugees entered through this archipelago between August and September, without being identified and therefore no one knows where they are now.
"These people were only registered and were given police certificates that enabled them to travel, and they were given a deadline to appear at the office for foreigners in Athens. Nevertheless, many of them used this document only to depart due to which they ended up in the countries of Western Europe without being identified," said Antonis Kidonakis on Skai TV.