A young man arrested at Vyronas, in southeast Athens, as part of a police raid by the counterterrorist police squad on Wednesday is proving to be a mystery. He was arrested at a cafe across the road from a garage that served as a hideout for a terrorist organization known as Revolutionary Struggle, however the authorities know very little about him as he has no previous criminal record and has never drawn police attention in the past. There is indication that he may have been a new recruit to the leftist group Revolutionary Struggle whose leader, Nikos Maziotis, is in jail while his partner Paula Roupa, a fugitive, has pledged to continue the group’s activities.

In a press conference on Thursday, Public Order and Citizen Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias and Greek Police (ELAS) Chief Lieut. General Dimitris Tsaknakis presented details of the raid, including notes in the man’s backpack indicating a major hit was being planned for October 4, the founding anniversary of main New Democracy party.

The suspect is Greek but also speaks Italian, is of stocky build and refuses to give any details as to his identity or involvement in the group. He is being held on charges of police resistance, grievous bodily harm, and for the creation and possession of an explosive device. The police were impressed by his strength and it took twenty officers to manage to hold him down and fingerprint him.

He first drew attention ten days ago when the police learnt of an arms hideout at a garage in Vyronas. The garage owner told the police that he had leased it out in June 2013 to a Greek citizen. The leasing agreement that the garage owner had was found to carry the fingerprints of well-known terror suspect Nikos Maziotis. Inside the garage, the police found a car storage roof rack that had been used during an attack on the Bank of Greece last April. It was immediately evident that the garage had been leased by members of the terrorist group Revolutionary Struggle, a Greek rebel militant group.