The Pakistani suspects of participation in the terrorist network that dismantled EL.AS had initially planned a bloody attack on the Jewish Museum in Syntagma Square. and EYP. However, this goal was not considered feasible due to the security measures being taken in the wider area and thus the Jewish “synagogue” in Psirri was chosen as an alternative. The above results from the file of the case (s.s. contains approximately 200 pages of records from the seized mobile phones of the arrested and a 30-page transfer letter from EL.AS.).
According to the court documents obtained by “TA NEA”, the specific investigation started from an anonymous email sent to the state agencies in November, which contained a hint about the hotel in Zakynthos where one of the suspects worked, as well as information about the 30-year-old compatriot and their local guide named “Abbas” who is said to be in Iran.
Threats
According to the court documents, therefore, there were shipments of small amounts of money through the company Western Union to relatives of those involved in Pakistan by their coordinator. Furthermore, in dialogues it is revealed that the two arrested (s.s. legally represented by ex officio appointed lawyer Iraklis Stavaris) had approached Albano, unknown other details, to participate in murders of Israelis outside the Synagogue of Psyris, which he denied, answering that he only proceeds with stabbings. In addition, one of the arrested has claimed in his testimony that he would participate in the operation to kill the Israelis, not only because of the monetary reward, but also because he was afraid of the threats he received from “Abbas”, who is alleged to have committed murders in Pakistan .
Plan
“The plan for the bloody attack on the Jewish synagogue in Psiri now frightens us for its simplicity.” These new fears about new “remote” recruitments of undocumented “amateur” foreign armed men for attacks on European soil are expressed by officials of the Security Authorities based on the full analysis of the data on the activities of the two young Pakistanis who were arrested following investigations by the EYP and the Anti-Terrorist Service in the framework of the “Hyakinthos” operation. The officers of the Security Authorities talk about a new headache, where after the armed networks of Carlos the Jackal, Black September and other Arab organizations, the surprise attacks of Al Qaeda, the crossings of thousands of ISIS “fighters”, the nightmare of its terrorists is presented next door who will lure large monetary rewards in proportion to the number of their victims.
The attempt by the “Quds Force” of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in Tehran to approach two “random” Pakistanis who worked in agricultural jobs, and not only in Laconia and Zakynthos, in order to cause bloodshed in our country as mercenaries fear that it might happen again. And perhaps no one can rule out that similar plans are already being prepared in several countries, since the Greek attempt with such “strike teams” had been preceded in Cyprus, Turkey, Dubai, while there is also relevant information about similar preliminary work in the Netherlands.
With the possibility that some other Pakistanis or foreigners from other Middle Eastern countries who have taken refuge in Iran may create similar armed networks at the behest of Iranian organizations with their fellow countrymen who have gone to European countries. With targets mainly of Israeli interest, without being able to exclude planning for “blind” strikes on passing citizens, as has happened with the action of many Islamist lone “wolves” with consecutive bloody attacks in many European cities.
Officials of the Security Authorities report that the organization of such attacks with paid, random gunmen has certain advantages for the perpetrators, but also many, fortunately, “problematic points” that lead to the failure of their plans.
The recruitment
As they note, “the advantages of these telephone recruitments are certainly that they are not easily noticed by the Authorities and it is difficult to identify the unmarked perpetrators.
Also, the fact that these are not suicide missions that require a kamikaze preparation for the “great sacrifice” and are carried out only for financial exchanges, certainly facilitates the terrorists’ plans.
They can also easily eliminate one raid group and create another with… alien adventurers with the same attraction. But on the other hand, the bonds of natural and moral perpetrators are more relaxed, foreigners without armed past cannot easily find weapons from smuggling rings, there is no clear way of financing them in the preparation of the attacks.