A 37-year-old Palestinian arrested in Crete in the early hours of Saturday has allegedly confessed to being a Hamas member and to receiving explosives training in Malaysia alongside at least one of the four suspects detained in Cyprus on terrorism charges, according to Phileleftheros sources.
The arrest, carried out by Greek intelligence under an operation codenamed “Odin” in Agios Nikolaos, has widened what Cypriot authorities already regarded as a serious terrorism investigation into a potentially coordinated cross-border network. Investigators are looking into whether attacks were being planned simultaneously in Cyprus, Greece, and other European countries.
The 37-year-old reportedly told investigators he had trained twice in Malaysia at a Hamas camp in the manufacture of explosive devices using chemical liquids, and that one of the Cyprus suspects had undergone the same training.
According to the Greek news site iefimerida, the suspect stated he was a Hamas member acting “for his homeland,” that he had been in contact with one of the Cyprus detainees and knew the other, and that he had obtained dosimeters and a precision scale and had ordered chemical substances online, though he said he had not collected them. He was charged with a felony by the Athens Court of First Instance on Monday.
Searches of properties in Crete and Athens yielded, among other items, a laboratory magnetic stirrer with a heated plate and a laboratory-grade precision analytical scale, Greek police said. An earlier report that the suspect had been targeting a specific cruise ship due to arrive in Crete on Monday was not confirmed by Greek police, whose spokesman said the suspect’s targets remain unknown.
Cyprus investigation
In Cyprus, the investigation centres on two men — aged 32 and 38 — whom authorities believe are Hamas operatives and the core of the alleged plot. Cypriot authorities have been investigating for several days information suggesting the 38-year-old also received explosives training in Asia. He entered Cyprus illegally and is believed to have done so via the occupied north, according to Phileleftheros.
The 32-year-old, who was living in Cyprus without the necessary permits with his wife and child at a flat in Kamares, Larnaca, reportedly admitted that the group was planning attacks on Israeli targets in Cyprus in retaliation for events in Gaza. The 38-year-old has said nothing to investigators.
Two other suspects, aged 54 and 57, are regarded as having played a peripheral role. Phileleftheros has reported they are Palestinians who have lived in Cyprus since the mid-1980s and hold Cypriot citizenship.
The first large quantity of explosive-making materials was found at a property at Governor’s Beach on Thursday, May 21. Two days later, a second large quantity was found in a second-floor flat in Kamares that had been under surveillance. Both properties were linked by police to the 32-year-old.
Police and cooperating services are continuing to investigate the suspects’ contacts to establish whether they had other accomplices in Cyprus. All four suspects are expected to appear before Larnaca Court this week and are expected to be referred for direct trial before the Criminal Court; the two principal suspects face serious charges of terrorism and participation in a criminal organisation.
International dimension
Cypriot and Greek police are in contact over the two cases, and authorities in other countries have also been informed. The cases have attracted significant international attention, with some Israeli media linking them to an alleged planned attack in Jerusalem — a claim Phileleftheros has not independently verified. The Israeli Foreign Ministry posted on Sunday that authorities “from Greece to Cyprus continue to uncover Hamas-linked activity on European soil.”
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