Displaying items by tag: egaleo

The arrest of a Turkish man for starting a wildfire in Aspropyrgos, Attica "raises a number of questions" regarding fires in Evros and around Alexandroupolis the previous year, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias said.

The authorities have arrested a suspected arsonist considered responsible for starting the wildfire that broke out in woodland off the Egaleo ringroad in Aspropyrgos, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias said in a post on the social media platform X on Sunday.
Kikilias noted that Sunday's fire was the third to break out on Mount Egaleo this month and each time the fire brigade had intervened before it spread. On Sunday, however, authorities had also arrested the suspected arsonist, a Turkish national, who had confessed to his act and would be tried under the new law for crimes of arson, the minister added.

"We have said it many times: We will be merciless with arsonists," he said.

The fire began at 12:30 on Sunday afternoon and was contained within 20 minutes, the fire brigade announced, while no residences had been threatened.
A force of 43 fire fighters, with two teams on the ground, nine vehicles and one helicopter was deployed to put out the fire, with the assistance of local authorities water tanker trucks.

Fire brigade announces arrest for arson

A 33-year-old Turkish national has been arrested by authorities in Greece on a charge of deliberately and repeatedly setting fires in forest and farm land along motorway 65 (Egaleo Ring Road) in Aspropyrgos Attica, the fire brigade announced on Sunday.
According to the announcement, the suspect was arrested 'in flagrante' on Sunday by fire brigade officers of the Crimes of Arson department, with the assistance of the police. According to fire brigade sources, the 33-year-old is an asylum seeker and security forces are now conducting an investigation into his profile.

He was being held in custody until he appears before an Athens public prosecutor on Monday.

Police dismantled a criminal ring that smuggled drugs from Albania to Greece.