Suspected rapist identified
An Athens prosecutor yesterday approved the publication of a photograph of a 32-year-old Albanian national who is accused of raping and mugging two women in the northern Athenian suburb of Galatsi, following his arrest last week. The man has been identified as Sinani Shkelqim, born in 1982 in Albania. Police have requested that anyone with any information on his background or any criminal activities he may have been involved in call 210.869.5540 or 210.869.5542. Shkelqim is being charged with raping and robbing two women on separate occasions, in 2012 and earlier this year, in Galatsi’s Omorfoklisia Park.
Tourists found.
A Czech couple who were reported missing after setting off on a trek on Wednesday afternoon down the Aghia Irini Gorge, south of Hania, Crete, were yesterday reported to have returned to their lodgings unharmed. The unnamed couple told officers that they had become separated during their hike but managed to find each other several hours later and call the landlady of the rooms they were renting during their holiday on Crete. The landlady had alerted authorities on Wednesday night that her lodgers had not returned, prompting police to organize a search party. The couple eventually turned up safely at their hotel after receiving directions from their landlady.
Roma camp crackdown.
Twenty-three people were arrested during a raid on a Roma camp on the outskirts of Peraia in Thessaloniki yesterday on charges of crimes ranging from fencing stolen goods to making illegally connections to the power grid. A crew from the Public Power Corporation followed police into the camp after the raid, disconnecting illegal lines used to tap into the central power grid and provide electricity to the camp, which has an estimated population of 400.
Roadblock.
A police roadblock set up in the mountains of Nafpaktos, western Greece, yesterday failed to stop a car believed to be carrying a group of fugitives from Trikala Prison who are believed to have killed a policeman on Monday in nearby Distomo and caused the death in March of a motorist caught in the crossfire between the wanted men and police. It is believed the fugitives have holed up in the mountains and the police are taking steps to secure the area.