The parcel bomb sent to the offices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Paris which wounded one woman was sent from Greece and the sender cited on the package was New Democracy spokesman Vasilis Kikilias, Alternate Citizens Protection Minister Nikos Toskas said on Thursday, speaking at the evening newscast of ANT1 TV channel.
He said the intended recipient was the Director of the IMF Europe Office, Jeffrey Franks.
Toskas said Kikilias was briefed about these developments, adding that the senders address was an old one used by ND’s spokesman. When asked about why the use of the names and addresses of politicians on the bomb parcels, the minister said the perpetrators possibly see it as a way to “offend the political system.”
“We’re determined to deal with all these things and we’re doing all we can,” Toskas said, adding that it is too early to come to any conclusions on the incident. He also pledged to improve security and detection where needed. At the same time, French authorities earlier sent the Greek police copies of the photographs from the site of the explosion in Paris, following a request sent via the French police liaison in Athens. The photographs show the room where the booby-trapped parcel exploded after the attack but there is no trace of the envelope — which disintegrated in the explosion.
The incident in Paris came just one day after German authorities intercepted and neutralized a parcel-bomb sent from Athens and on the same day that the terror group “Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF)” claimed responsibility for the attack on Schaeuble through a post on anti-establishment website Indymedia. Concern in Greece and Europe is heightened by references in the CCF proclamation to the creation of an “international conspiratorial network of FAI and CCF cells in dozens of countries” and a pledge “to strike at the structures and individuals of the system of power with even greater passion and persistence.”
Investigating officers said the same terror group attempted to send letter bombs to a number of politicians in Europe, including one intercepted at the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and one addressed to then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi that was intercepted at Rome airport. More booby-trapped letters had been sent by the group at that time but were intercepted before they left Greece — including one addressed to then prime minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
German authorities informed the Greek police that the parcel bomb in Berlin contained 31 grams of gunpowder used for fireworks and a detonating mechanism. Experts said that the type and quantity of explosives used was insufficient to do serious damage and that the goal of the perpetrators was to make a symbolic gesture and cause an upheaval.
An investigation is also underway to trace the path of the parcel-bomb sent to Berlin, in which the police hope that the ultra-modern screening equipment that Hellenic Post recently had installed at the Athens airport will be able to provide assistance. Among others, the equipment keeps records of all mail that is screened and these will now be scanned to see if the parcel addressed to the German finance minister is listed. Greek authorities are also investigating which external post box in Athens the parcel was sent from, in order to check whether the sender was recorded by CCTV.
SOURCE: ANA MPA
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