GREECE SUSPENDED foreign mail shipments and the EU authorities initiated an emergency review of air cargo security after parcel bomb plots linked to Greek extremists and al-Qaeda exposed a dangerous blind spot in the aviation system.
Berlin called yesterday for an immediate evaluation of safety systems after the interception of Greek parcel bombs addressed to the German, French and Italian leaders, and the discovery last week of explosives originating in Yemen on US-bound cargo aircraft in Britain and Dubai.
The explosives on the Dubai aircraft had previously been carried on two passenger flights.
A bomb sent to German chancellor Angela Merkel was made safe in her office in Berlin and a package addressed to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi caught fire after the aircraft carrying it was diverted to Bologna airport.
Greek police also discovered a device addressed to French president Nicolas Sarkozy when they seized as many as 11 parcels addressed to foreign embassies as well the European Court of Justice and the pan-European police agency, Europol.
Attempting to track down any packages already in the postal system, the authorities in Athens responded by halting international mail shipments for 48 hours.
Militants opposed to a stringent austerity programme adopted at the behest of the EU and the International Monetary Fund have been blamed for the attacks. Two men aged 22 and 24 have been arrested, each of them charged with participating in a terrorist group and with illegal possession of explosives and weapons.
Police are also hunting five people linked to a radical group called Fire Conspiracy Cells, which has been blamed for several attacks on government targets as Greek prime minister George Papandreou faced protests over the country’s dire fiscal position.
“Such brainless and irresponsible actions aim to damage the Greek people’s great effort to put the country and its economy back on its feet . . . they will fail, we will not bend,” Mr Papandreou said.
He has pledged to be “merciless” with militant factions, which have been blamed for sporadic violence in a succession of street protests against cutbacks and tax increases.
The European Commission said it would conduct a “stocktaking exercise” with national security experts tomorrow to assess how air freight systems might be made more secure in the wake of the plots.
A spokesman said, however, that there was no proposal to shut down cargo shipments from any third country.
Diplomats say EU justice and home affairs ministers will review the situation at a routine meeting next Monday in Brussels. Germany wants any ad-hoc measures deemed necessary to be adopted immediately. It also says any longer-term measures should be prepared in time to be signed off by EU leaders at their next summit, just before Christmas.
Militants associated with the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula faction have been linked to the Chicago-bound devices found last week on foot of a tip-off to the US intelligence services from Saudi Arabia.
Greek police have indicated that they see no link between the letter bomb plot and al-Qaeda.
However, Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni has pointed to “possible” links in the plot between extreme left groups in Italy and Greece.
