Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-09-24

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Murder of abducted Cretan businessman solved

[01] Murder of abducted Cretan businessman solved

The perpetrators of this unprecedented, for Greece, crime are two Syrian nationals aged 25 and 26 and a 33-year-old local Greek housepainter.

The two foreign nationals were working for the businessman, while the 33-year-old had worked for him a year ago.

Police had traced the crime to the three approximately two months ago, but were waiting for the appropriate moment in order to make the three arrests simultaneously.

The 26-year-old Syrian was arrested on Wednesday night at the Nikos Kazantzakis airport as he was returning from Syria, while the other two were also arrested in a simultaneous operation.

Both cell phones used for negotiating the ransom with the victim's wife were found in the detainees' possession, as well as several marked bills of 50 and 100 euro denominations from the ransom money.

According to police, the 25-year-old Syrian and the Greek housepainter have confessed the crime, but not the 26-year-old.

The detainees will be led later in the day before the local public prosecutor.

The body of the 50-year-old businessman found dead in the trunk of his car two days after his abduction, although the family had paid the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.

Kypriotakis, the owner of a paint factory in the Heraklion Industrial Zone and the father of three children, had been abducted in the Vasilies district of Heraklion, where he had been lured to by a telephone call from an unidentified person posing as a prospective customer in order to supposedly undertake the painting of a building.

All traces of the businessmen disappeared after he went to the appointment, and his family reported Kypriotakis as missing after a search by his wife and relatives failed to find him. The family was later contacted by the abductors, who asked for a ransom.

The businessman was allowed to contact his wife, asking that she not involve the police in the case.

The abductors later asked for a larger sum of money, but after negotiations the sum agreed was 155,000 euros, which was dropped off the day after the abduction by the wife, accompanied by relatives, at a remote spot in the Gouves area. The abductors then contacted the family again, saying that they would find the businessman two hours later at a remote spot in Potamies, Heraklion.

Shortly afterwards, the local fire department and police were informed that a jeep was on fire in the Potamies area, where they found the businessman's charred body in the trunk of the vehicle, which belonged to Kypriotakis himself.

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