Eight ‘suspect’ packages found at Athens postal centre

ATHENS: Greek police said they found eight “suspect” packages on Monday addressed to global economic institutions, after a domestic militant group sent mail bombs to the IMF and German finance ministry last week.

The packages, intended for “officials at European countries” were located at the Greek postal service’s main sorting centre north of Athens, a police statement said.

A police source later said the packages were intended for officials at the Eurogroup and other global economic institutions.

Last week, a mail bomb sent to the International Monetary Fund’s offices in Paris exploded and injured a secretary. A second bomb sent to the German finance ministry was intercepted by security.

The investigation so far suggests that both the IMF and the German finance ministry bombs were sent by a far-left group called the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, which police thought they had mostly dismantled in 2011.

A source close to the investigation in Paris last week said the mail bomb consisted of two tubes of black powder and a makeshift electric trigger.

A second Greek police source on Monday said the eight additional packages had been scanned and “found to contain a similar mechanism.”

To make the packages more likely to be opened, the perpetrators listed Greek economic officials and academics as the senders.

Last week, the names of two senior officials in Greece’s conservative New Democracy party were used as the alleged senders – deputy leader Adonis Georgiadis and party spokesman Vassilis Kikilias, formerly a police minister himself.

The Berlin package was intended for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, and was discovered a day before he was due to host his new US counterpart, Steven Mnuchin. — AFP