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The authorities consider the fire that had broken out in former Prime Minister Costas Simitis’ villa a very serious case as, on the one hand, it shows the capabilities of the urban "guerrilla warfare" in Greece and reveals the weak points of the security system of the country on the other. According to the police, the attack was the work of the terrorist organisation "Zero Tolerance", which attacks politicians, or of another organisation that has carried out a large number of arsons over the past three years. However, the authorities do not exclude the fact that "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" or other armed groups might assume responsibility for the attack which was carried out in Agii Theodori last Friday morning and which used a clockwork mechanism to cause more damage and to allow the perpetrators to escape undisturbed.

"Zero Tolerance"

"Zero tolerance" had assumed responsibility for the attack on Costas Simitis’ office at 35 Akadimias Street in Kolonaki on 3 April 2012, when a big fire had broken out and three people had been slightly injured. A statement of the organisation pointed out that "Simitis is one of those chosen by the American and German authoritarians."

This elusive terrorist group has carried out 18 attacks in four and a half years. It appeared in June 2009 and is the only one whose targets are politicians and political parties. In the beginning, it had placed explosive devices in the house of Anasthasios Nerandzi, a deputy of New Democracy, in the car of a riot forces policeman and a few weeks later, in the office of LAOS deputy Dimitra Arapoglou in Koukaki. In January 2010, the group reappeared and set fire to the headquarters of PASOK in Kallithea, and then subsequently attacked the offices of Pemi Zouni and Christos Protopapas, deputies of PASOK at the time.

In late 2010 and in 2011 "Zero Tolerance" continued with attacks on the offices of the federation of enterprises, the Greek - Chinese Chamber, the offices of Vasso Papandreou (twice), of Fani Petralia, Miltiadis Papayoannou and Mariliza Xenoyiannakopoulou. In 2013, explosive devices were placed in the offices of Golden Dawn, in the office of the adviser on the privatisation of the casino in Parnitha and in the office of Fevronia Patrianakou, a deputy of New Democracy. The text disseminated at that time stated that "the group has responded to the call of the "Group of People's Fighters" (which assumed responsibility for the shooting and for the attempt of launching a shell against New Democracy headquarters on Syngrou Avenue) to strengthen the guerrilla structures in order to create a political structure and revolutionary army."

And the others...

The police have however reminded that the group "Struggling Minority" has attacked the houses and offices of politicians over the past three years too. It committed arson at the house of former Minister Yoannos Papantoniou, on the car of a private individual involved in racist attacks and attacked the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment Maria Kaltsa as well as the houses of five journalists.

The group "Deviant Behaviours for the Spread of Revolutionary Terrorism" which committed a series of arsons in Microsoft offices in Maroussi, in the offices of companies renting helicopters to the Greek police, in the mayoral buildings in Kessariani and Zografou, shopping centres in Athens and of police motorcycles has not yet been neutralized either.

Regarding the assumptions about the explosive device used in the attack on Simitis’ villa, the police do not believe that there are substantial similarities with the explosive clockwork petrol mechanism (made from a four-litre barrel of petrol, a clock, eight batteries and a switch in a taper), which was placed in the last underground station in Egaleo on 25 February 2012. The responsibility for this attack was assumed by the terrorist organisation "12 February" which has not reappeared. Explosives with a detonator like the one used in Costas Simitis’ villa had been detected in the first attacks of "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" in 2008-2009.

The authorities assume that an unnamed terrorist organisation like that connected with the arson at the house of government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou in Exarcheia in January 2013 might assume responsibility for the attack. The relevant statement of the group said that "the fight has two faces and it is taking place everywhere. Where and when you expect it the least..."

The Greek police target the close ties of three wanted persons

In recent weeks the Greek police have investigated the cooperation of 42-year-old Nikos Maziotis with wanted Vassilis Paleokostas and Spyros Christodoulou. They are checking the probability of them hiding behind three bank robberies committed in recent months and being involved in the attempted kidnapping of Andreas Martinos, aged 33, the son of famous shipping magnate Ioannis Martinos, which was carried out in Voula two days ago, like in a Hollywood film.

Voula’s secrets

The perpetrators of the attempted kidnapping of the young Martinos had tried to prevent him from leaving the parking lot of a supermarket at the intersection of Eolou and Iraklidon Streets in Voula. As stated by a police representative, "The 33-year-old man has saved himself thanks to his coolness and the enormous power of his car (760 horsepower), with which he had dragged one of his kidnappers’ cars. We think that he had become a target after publications about his family of a year ago, which state that his family is wealthy but, at the same time, it is maintaining a low standard of living. This is considered an ideal target by kidnappers. There have been some grey areas in the investigation of previous serious cases of kidnapping, which may now be important. It seems that the kidnapping of shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos five years ago involved two Albanians, whom it was impossible to catch and who were able to slip out, as we were unable to find evidence for them. We also believe that many people convicted of other cases of kidnapping have been released from prison."

According to the police, the way the kidnapping was carried out is reminiscent of the kidnapping of industrialist Alexandros Haitoglou in Oreokastro, Thessaloniki, in 1995. Vassilis Paleokostas, aged 48, was charged in connection with this attempted kidnapping and the authorities had later found on him a folder containing about 50 cuttings about the financial status and the activities of around 35 Greek businessmen and their relatives, who were potential victims of kidnapping. His next victim, namely George Milonas, whom he had kidnapped in the summer of 2008, was among them as well. Similar was the modus operandi of the kidnappers of shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos in Kavouri in January 2009 who was released against a ransom of 30 million euro, which was never found. The persons accused in this case are in prison, "but probably this means nothing for one or two of them."

The robbery in Edipsos

The assumed "cooperation" between Nikos Maziotis and Vassilis Paleokostas and Spyros Christodoulou is the result of the analysis of the data on the robberies committed in recent months in Velestino, Methana, Spetses and other banks. Nikos Maziotis’ involvement in them was originally confirmed but the probability of 42-year-old Spyros Christodoulou being involved in them as well has been examined too, as he had previously been accused of involvement in robberies and cases of extortion and in 2002 he was charged with the murder of a prisoner in Korydallos, in complicity with dangerous U.S. offender Peter Sedom (who was later found dead in the U.S.).

Subsequently, 42-year-old Christodoulou had repeatedly violated his five-day furlough and it seems that he had committed a series of robberies in Attica, Peloponnese, Evia. He has already been charged with the bank robbery in Edipsos in April 2011, the loot of which amounted to about 500,000 euro. According to the police, this robbery involved the same person as in the robberies that involved Maziotis. There are similarities with the modus operandi of Christodoulou in the attacks in Spetses, Methana and elsewhere, and it seems that he has a stash in Argolida as well as near Athens.

The police also recall that Vassilis Paleokostas met in prison with Spyros Christodoulou (they were in the same cell) and with Nikos Maziotis. The relationship between Paleokostas and Maziotis is confirmed by the comparison of evidence in the investigation of the kidnapping of Milonas as well as in the neutralizing of the terrorist group "Revolutionary Struggle".