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Two heavily armed Britons arrested in Greece Three heavily armed Britons arrested in Greece
(about 11 hours later)
Greek government sources say two heavily armed British suspects have been arrested near the border with Turkey. Greek police have arrested three British men in two separate operations on suspicion of trying to move a large number of guns and ammunition into Turkey.
A high-ranking security official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the suspects were Iraqi-born British subjects in their 20s. The men, aged 22, 28 and 39 and all Iraqi Kurds with British passports, were found to have tens of thousands of small-calibre cartridges and more than 20 pistols and rifles close to the border with Turkey on Saturday evening.
The two were arrested on Saturday night by coastguards near the port of Alexandroupolis in the north-east. They were driving a trailer. A spokesman for the coastguard confirmed the arrests. The 39-year-old suspect was found to have 200,000 cartridges and four pistols on him when he was apprehended close to the Turkish border crossing. The other two had 18 rifles and 27,000 cartridges when they were detained at a town near the border after days of surveillance.
The suspects were carrying more than a dozen guns and well over 20,000 bullets, according to the security official. The two were not thought to be on any terrorist or criminal database. “We don’t have any evidence to connect them with Isis … we have informed Europol and Interpol,” a police official said on Sunday. The weapons were not combat rifles but could have been used for training, he added.
Greek counterterrorism experts and the representatives of the national intelligence agency are headed to Alexandroupolis. The suspects were due to be taken before a local magistrate on Sunday or Monday on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons and smuggling.