Work has been completed to temporarily repair the underwater pipe supplying water from the mainland to the popular island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. The island has been without drinking water since January 24, 2024, following a terrorist attack carried out by “unknown” assailants.
Residents of the island can now obtain drinking water, the Athens regional government announced on Monday. As reported, the results of water quality measurements are expected on Tuesday, April 2.
“Our promises never remain on paper. We have shortened the time frame and proceeded to carry out all the necessary actions, following all the required protocols,” – said the Governor of the Attica region, Nikos Hardalias. He also posted a 1.5-minute video outlining the issue, starting from the day a lawsuit was filed with the Piraeus prosecutor's office on February 2 against “persons unknown” for the damage caused, since sabotage is suspected, as has happened in the past.
The water supply to the previously suffering Aegina was carried out in 2020, after which real “devilish things” began to happen to him. Over the past 9 years, this pipeline has undergone 4 sabotages. And if before 2022 minor acts of sabotage were committed – damage to shut-off valves, pumps – then in 2022 professionals took up this matter…
In 2022, unknown persons blew up the pipeline for the first time
On July 20, 2022, at a distance of 300 m from the shore of Perani (Salamin) and at a depth of 14.0 m, a violation of the pipeline protection occurred, with a small leak of water into the sea due to the use of explosives. This was reported by a representative of the contractor company. He was verbally informed by the administration of the port of Salamis that their service had received a complaint regarding the possible use of an explosive device in the offshore area, where a branch of a buried underwater pipeline is located, while its work continues as usual.
The protection of the pipeline in this place consists of a covering made of crushed stone, assembled using a high-strength plastic mesh into a kind of mats. In this case, the epicenter of the explosion is at the junction between two adjacent layers of coating.
In addition, remains of material believed to be the ignition tube (fuse) from an explosive device were discovered. It was third pipeline sabotagewhich starts from Perani in Salamis and ends at the port of Leontio in Aegina, Alexandros Petropoulos, project manager, said at the time.
Pipeline orepaired by the end of October of the same year, as reported to the media by the Governor of Attica, Giorgos Patoulis.
Only a year and a half passed, and the pipeline was blown up again
On February 2, 2024, the new governor of the Attica region, Nikos Hardalias filed a lawsuit head of the Piraeus prosecutor's office against all those responsible in sabotage of an underwater water pipeline. The regional governor presented reports from the competent services of the region supporting the claim, as well as relevant inspection reports, in order to quickly begin an investigation into the commission of any criminal acts against all those responsible.
“We will not sit idly by. And if anyone thinks that they will play with the health of citizens, then they are mistaken. Everything will come out,” – said the governor of the Attica region after submitting the report. Divers from the boat and an autonomous underwater vehicle conducting an investigation at the site discovered that the explosives had formed a meter-long funnel next to the pipeline protection.
At the same time, the level of execution of sabotage shows that we are clearly talking about about an organized group of underwater saboteurs of several people, well trained and qualified, with appropriate special equipment at their disposal, which are usually available at the state level. For example: sabotage on the Attica-Crete electric cable was carried out at great depths (several hundred meters), and for such an action it is already necessary, at a minimum, to have a submarine and the appropriate equipment!
Regarding the Aegina pipeline, at least one sabotage occurred near Perani on Salamis. However, Perani is located next to the main naval base of the Greek Navy on the island of Salamis, since it is located immediately after Selenia, and the pipeline runs a few hundred meters from the beach.
Perhaps these acts of sabotage are part of an exercise to infiltrate the Greek naval base in Salamis, and the team carrying out the sabotage is preparing for a more serious attack that may occur at X hour?
It is noteworthy that literally a week after the sabotage near Salamis, two saboteurs from the elite sabotage unit of the Greek Navy were detained, who were arrested on Friday, February 9, 2024 for possession of weapons and explosives together with the former head of the terrorist organization “Conspiracy of Fire Cells”.
At the same time, despite the objections of the prosecutor's office and the investigation, they were released literally the next day, without any restrictive conditions, by decision of the prosecutor of the Naval Court. The lawyer of the two accused, Vangelis Kantianis, called the case a “dummy” and said that both of his clients – “soldiers of the most elite unit of the Greek fleet were released because it was proven that they had no connection with the other arrested person and did not communicate with him. Therefore, all current reports about the alleged “cooperation” of terrorists, an “imminent major strike,” etc. are fantasies and bad scenarios of unsuccessful directors. Fortunately, justice workers do not allow such directors to dictate their decisions.”
The defendants have been charged with petty hooliganism and further investigation will be conducted. At the same time, the former leader of the terrorist organization “Conspiracy of Fire Cells” was sentenced to 25 months in prison without parole, he will be sent to prison for violating the law on weapons and possession of drugs for personal use. Since he was caught red-handed, the trial followed an accelerated procedure, and the decision was made by a single judge.
As for the explosives, one of the two underwater saboteurs reported that “it was brought from an exercise, he took it in a backpack to his home and was going to return it to duty, but did not have time…”! However, as it turned out, the type of explosive found was not used by the Greek Navy and was not stolen from army warehouses, as the investigation did not reveal this.
Later it turned out that this explosive has been used previously recruiterswho, with its help, intimidated the Pontic “guild workers” in Aspropirgo, engaged in the production of smuggled tobacco products.
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