Picture: To Vima
The Greek police are very close to a full disclosure of the robbery of an Alfabank’s branch on the island of Spetses in July when 474,000 euro were stolen and hostages were taken.
Initially the crime was associated with the bloody robbery of Paros, which in the end was linked to a group of anarchists, headed by 30-year-old Theophilos Thassos.
A number of reports which have reached in recent days the police authorities show that a major role in the robbery of Spetses plays a 42 years old Greek criminal who is responsible for many robberies in Argolis and Central Greece, and who collaborates with other criminals, Greeks and foreigners. He has been recognized by witnesses, from the bank cameras, and by evidence from the both stolen motorcycles used in the robbery. The arrest of the offender is a key issue for the Greek police, so that he couldn’t organize new robberies on the islands and mainland Greece - in the same manner he used in Spetses.
The robbery was organized in the morning of 16 July in the much visited area of Dapia, at a distance of about 50 metres from the police station. On that day the branch was transmitted a large sum of money - a fact which raised many questions among investigators about inside information which the criminals have had.
The bank was invaded by four people, including a young woman. The leader of the robbery himself was wearing sunglasses and a jockey cap, the other one was wearing a wig, and the rest had kerchiefs around their necks. The robbers had guns, not Kalashnikovs as announced earlier. They had arrived on the island by two motorcycles, by the ferry from Porto Heli, the previous afternoon. Despite the investigation, their refuge on the island has not been found. Immediately after the robbery, the criminals escaped by using two women as a shield. The hostages were taken not because of any attempts to resist, as happened in Paros, but out of fear that the police might have already been informed. They left their bikes on the shore and disappear by a motorboat towards Salandi in Argolis, where they set the boat on fire.
The subsequent investigation shows that the criminals have obliterated all signs of the boat so that its origin not to be found. The police say that this is not accidental. The organizer of the robbery has previously collaborated with another felon and he has been charged with a bank robbery on the island of Alonissos in August 2010.