Five more Croatian hooligans who were involved in Monday’s attack in New Philadelphia where 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris lost his life, were apprehended overnight by the Hellenic Coast Guard and police officers in Thesprotia.
As reported by ERT, the five Croats were spotted by HCG officers at the port of Igoumenitsa while they were preparing to board the ship bound for Italy.
Initially, the five Croats were brought to the building of the Thesprotia police headquarters, with the investigation showing that they participated in the murderous raid outside the AEK stadium.
According to the same information, when the investigation for the five Croats is completed, they will be transferred to Athens.
At the same time, the police investigations for the identification of the perpetrator of the murder of 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris are ongoing.
Police sources, speaking on Tuesday to protothema.gr, said that the investigation is going in all directions and that it is possible that the perpetrator of the murder is not Croatian, but Greek.
Forging forgotten Ancient Greek armor (video)
“The investigation is ongoing and the possibility is even being considered that the perpetrator is Greek. In some of the videos taken at the time of the events, some can be heard speaking Greek and saying phrases like ‘let’s finish them off’. Thus, this possibility is being considered, without anything being certain so far”, said the same sources.
The issue for the government from now on is the management of an obvious operational failure on the part of the Hellenic Police. A crucial question that should be answered concerns the information for the descent of the Croatian hooligans towards Greece. In other words, how high up in the hierarchy was there knowledge that there was a dangerous situation unfolding? And why in the end the more “loose” and “relaxed” approach of “discreet surveillance” was chosen, as mentioned in one of the first leaks from the Police HQ, instead of a more drastic preemptive intervention? From then on, the operational handling on the field is also seriously scrutinized, since there was an organized movement of fans to Greece in a match that UEFA had classified as high risk.
