Notorious Greek ‘terrorist’ arrested on bicycle

A notorious Greek fugitive who absconded while serving a life sentence for acting as a hitman for an extreme left group was caught Saturday as he rode a bicycle while armed with a loaded pistol, police said. Christodoulos Xiros was taken into custody in the southern suburb of Anavyssos just shy of a year following his January 7, 2014 disappearance while on prison leave. He had been serving multiple life sentences for deadly attacks he participated in as a hitman for the November 17 group and had been on a nine-day New Year’s break when he disappeared. Police caught him as he rode a bike in the neighbourhood where the 56-year-old radical had been renting an apartment in recent months.

He changed his physical appearance, wearing long hair, a goatee, glasses. He had a pistol on him loaded with 14 bullets.

Head of Greece’s police Dimitrios Tsaknakis

Xiros, who didn’t resist arrest, was immediately handed to anti-terrorism authorities. Before its breakup in 2002, November 17 was one of Greece’s most violent far-left organisations, claiming responsibility for 23 assassinations during its 27-year span, including the 1975 killing of the CIA’s Athens station chief, Richard Welch. Despite November 17’s dissolution, Xiros allegedly remained a committed militant and maintained close contacts with fellow jailed radicals. Shortly after his escape last year, authorities found DNA on a parcel bomb sent to a police station in the city of Itea that matched traces lifted from the car Xiros used to go into hiding.

Europe Greek