The two Pakistani citizens suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization and planning and carrying out an attack on a Jewish restaurant in the center of Athens and against Israeli targets, including the Chabad center, appeared before a judge for the first time yesterday.
The two denied that they had planned attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, and their lawyer said that they admitted in the interrogations that they were afraid of people who threatened them. Now the investigators are trying to find out if they tried to carry out attacks in other places, and for that purpose searches were made in other places in Athens, as well as on the island of Zakenithos. At the end of the hearing, it was decided to keep the accused in custody.
Besides the two detainees who are accused of terrorism, an indictment was filed against another suspect who, according to the attorney for the defendants, “threatens the detainees and their family members.” According to him, the detainees admitted that one of them considered taking pictures of the restaurant, but “got the impression that it would be difficult to do, gave up and walked away.”
The investigation against the two was opened after Greece’s counter-terrorism unit received an email, in which it was stated that the suspects were planning an attack on a Chabad house in Athens and security cameras at the location recorded the two passing by to film it.