The counterterrorism police arrested four Turkish nationals of Kurdish descent who are believed to be members of the DHKP-C militant group, during an operation in an apartment in Gyzi, from which weapons and explosives were also recovered. The four men are aged 25, 33, 41 and 49 years old and were in possession of falsified identification documents.
The police reported that it recovered a Kalashnikov assault rifle with three clips, three pistols, one suppressor, two sub-machine guns, 6.35 kilos of high explosives, two F1 hand grenades, ammunition, three computers, maps of Athens, Alexandroupoli and Turkey, as well as various DHKP-C photos and paraphernalia.
There appears to be an international warrant for the arrest and extradition of the 49-year-old suspect to Turkey. The 49-year-old also has outstanding European and Greek warrants for his involvement in an explosion in Triandria in Thessaloniki, back in October of 2011. The identities of the other three men have yet to be confirmed. The four suspects appear to have rented the apartment in Gyzi about a year ago claiming to by Syrians. The police are investigating the maps and computers, if hopes of recovering information regarding the group’s intentions and operations in Greece and beyond.
The weapons recovered in Gyzi appear to be related to the case from last summer when weapons were discovered on board a speedboat traveling between Chios and Inousses. The police had recovered two anti-armor rockets, four grenades, two pistols, detonators and bullets. Amongst the people arrested were two Turkish nationals who were associated with DHKP-C and were believed to have been planning a terrorist attack in Turkey. According to police information the weapons in both cases seem to have originated in Crete.
The DHKP-C, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, was founded in 1978 and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the USA and European Union. In recent years the groups has been involved in attacks against the Turkish Ministry of Justice and the political offices of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
