Α sizable cache of weapons and explosives was discovered by authorities this week in an apartment building storage room in the east-central Athens district of Pangrati, with Greek Police’s (EL.AS) anti-terrorist unit investigating whether the find is related to an inadvertent bomb blast late last month only a few kilometers away.
According to media reports, a half dozen firearms, including a sub-machine gun, hand grenades, detonators and more than 10 kilos of explosive material were recovered from the storage room. Just as ominously, more than 37 kilos of the compound ammonium nitrate were found. The latter is a major component in industrial explosives.
The same reports had the space leased out for decades to unknown persons, with the owner only recently opening the storage room with the help of a locksmith. The owner, reportedly a retired military officer, said he was paid the monthly lease via an ATM transaction.
The discovery comes less than three weeks after a make-shift bomb exploded inside a third-floor apartment in the central Ampelokipi district, rendering the rest of the building mostly uninhabitable.
A 31-year man, the alleged bomb-maker, was killed in the explosion, while another woman inside the unit was seriously injured. She remains treated at an Athens-area hospital under police guard, while another three suspects have been arrested in the case.
According to initial estimates, the Ampelokipi incident has all the markings of urban terrorism carried out by self-styled anti-state, anti-establishment organizations.
