Greek police nab nine suspected terrorists

ATHENS - Counter-terrorism police raided hideouts across Greece belonging to terrorism group Sect of Revolutionaries, confiscating a cache of guns and explosives and arresting at least nine people, reports said Sunday.

Police officials said three machine guns, seven handguns, grenades and 50 kg of explosive powder and 200 grams of TNT were discovered in a basement apartment in the Athens suburb of Nea Smyrni.

In another apartment in the main port of Pireaus and in the central Greek town of Agrinio, investigators uncovered smaller quantities of weaponry which they believe belongs to the same group.

Police were conducting more searches in other locations around Athens, in the northern port city of Thessaloniki and on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete.

Officials said the weapons found were similar to the kind used by left-wing guerrilla group Sect of Revolutionaries, which claimed responsibility for the slaying of Sokratis Giolas, an investigative journalist and an anti-terrorist police officer.

Giolas was shot dead in front of his pregnant wife July 19 outside their Athens home.

The group has vowed to increase attacks on police, business people, prison guards and corrupt media, in addition to tourists.

Reports said police discovered a hit-list in one of the apartments, leading them to suspect the group was planning an assassination in the next few days.

The Sect of Revolutionaries first emerged after the rioting over the death of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos, killed by a police bullet in December 2008.

Last month, another Greek left-wing anarchist group, Conspiracy of Nucleo of Fire, claimed responsibility for a series of parcel bombings in Greece. The majority of the 14 packages were intercepted by police and destroyed.