After the bank robbery in Kato Titorei police detained group of anarchistswhich is associated with a series of armed raids on banks and an attempt to open an ATM.
Greek Police is investigating the activities of an armed group detained after a bank robbery in Kato Titoree. According to Greek media, the investigation links the detainees with a series of attacks on bank branches, an attempt to open ATM and storage heavy weapons, including machine guns and grenades.
New video materials published by the Greek publication Proto Themeshow episodes from past attacks that investigators believe are linked to the same group. Footage from a bank robbery in Papagu in 2023, one of the participants threatens an employee with a gun and hands her a plastic bag, demanding to put money in it.
Gang from Tiforea: weapons, grenades and bank raids pic.twitter.com/vbASf6EqXy
— Athens News (@russianathens) May 13, 2026
Another video reportedly showed an attack on a bank branch in Achaye. Masked men enter the premises with guns, and bank employees and customers stand with their hands raised as the attackers empty the cash registers. The footage does not look like an impromptu street theft, but like the actions of a group that knew what it was doing in advance and was prepared to directly intimidate people.
Another episode concerns an attempt to open an ATM near a supermarket in the Loutra Oreas Elenis area in early February. According to https://t.co/fOlsw84CGXaround 02:30 a.m., members of the group approached the front of the store and attempted to open the ATM using an angle grinder, a sledgehammer and a crowbar. Then,… pic.twitter.com/4JeEIsCW0l
— Athens News (@russianathens) May 13, 2026
Another episode concerns an attempt to open an ATM near a supermarket in the area Loutra-Oreas-Elenis at the beginning of February. According to in.graround 02:30 a.m., members of the group approached the front of the store and attempted to open the ATM using an angle grinder, a sledgehammer and a crowbar. Then, after breaking a supermarket window, they tried to get to the ATM from the back, but were unable to withdraw the money.
In these frames, according to media reports, a woman from the group is also visible holding a long-barreled weapon. This detail especially attracted the attention of Greek journalists: the investigation believes that among those detained were not only the “periphery” of the performers, but also people who played a coordinating role.
Who, according to investigators, led the group
According to information News247the presumed leader of the group is considered 30 year old manand the investigation attributes the role of his deputy 26 year old womanwho was allegedly his partner and served as a liaison between the participants.
According to the police, the detainees knew each other and, as investigators believe, received their main income from robberies. Before the attacks, they, according to sources, observed targets and studied routes. In the case of Kato-Tiforeei It is reported that the group members had already appeared in the area before, but did not take active action then.
Greek media write that police began to closely monitor the group the previous Saturday, when they noticed the movement of four alleged participants in the direction of the area where the robbery later took place. After this, covert surveillance was established over them, and groups were sent to the area ΔΑΟΕ – a unit for combating organized crime, which is often called the “Greek FBI” in the Greek media.
Weapons, grenades and readiness for collision
After the arrests, the defendants, according to investigators, were found to have a heavy arsenal, including machine guns like Scorpionlong-barreled weapons and grenades. According to in.grthe police believe that the detainees were ready to use weapons because they were in combat condition.
This is an important detail. A group that expects a quick hit and run is one thing. It’s completely different for people who have machine guns and grenades with them.. Here the risk for bank employees, passers-by and police increases many times over. In such cases, a bank robbery no longer turns into just a property crime, but into a situation where any mistake could result in human casualties.
According to Naftemporikithe investigation is checking the possible connection of the detainees with a number of past attacks and ATM hacks. Various publications mention episodes in Papagu, Galatsi, Nea Chalcedon, Nea-Ionia, Achaye And Aetolia-Acarnania.
Heavy charges
Serious criminal cases have been initiated against the detainees. According to Proto Themeamong the charges include the creation and participation in a criminal organization, skilled theft committed jointly, professionally and repeatedly, robbery, illegal possession of firearms and illegal carrying of weapons, including military rifles and grenades.
In addition, the detainees, according to media reports, were charged with illegal carrying of weapons, illegal possession of weapons, possession of drugs for personal use, violence against officials and falsification of vehicle registration numbers.
According to Greek publications, Some of the detainees are associated with anarchist or anti-authoritarian space. At the same time, the defendants themselves, through a text posted on an anti-authoritarian website, stated that they had been charged “overblown accusation”including “expropriation of banks” and weapons storage. They also reported that they received a deadline to testify from the investigator on Friday. May 15.
Why did the case go beyond the usual criminal chronicle?
History with Kato-Tiforeei quickly became more than just news about a bank robbery. The scale of the alleged activity, the number of episodes, heavy weapons, grenades and videos from various attacks make this case much more serious. The investigation, in essence, is faced with the question: are we talking about an ordinary gang of raiders or a more stable organized structure with a politicized background and criminal practice?
In Greek history the term “expropriation of banks” is not random. It has long been used in radical circles as an ideological cover for raids on financial institutions. But for bank employees who have guns pointed at their faces, and for visitors who are forced to stand with their hands up, the difference between “expropriation” and armed robbery is, to put it mildly, unconvincing.
This is where the unpleasant part of the discussion begins. Some radical rhetoric attempts to portray such actions as a political gesture against the banking system. But in reality, it is not abstract “financial structures” that are under attack, but cashiers, security guards, clients, random passers-by and police officers who may find themselves in the fire zone. A very convenient revolutionary spirit: usually it is not those who write beautiful texts after being detained who take risks.
Editorial comment
The case of a group detained after a robbery in Kato Tiforeashows how thin Greece remains the boundary between criminality, radical subculture and political self-justification. If a person walks into a bank with a gun, threatens employees and forces people to raise their hands, this is no longer the romance of resistance or social protest. This is armed violence.
You can argue as much as you like about banks, crises, debts, inequality and social injustice. In Greece there are more than enough reasons for such conversations. But none of these arguments turn the machine gun, the grenade, and the threat to the cashier into political philosophy. It’s still a crime, just with a more pretentious vocabulary.
For ΕΛ.ΑΣ. (Greek police) this case will test not only the speed of arrests, but also the quality of the investigation. It is necessary to establish the entire range of episodes, prove connections between participants, check weapons, vehicles, routes, possible shelters and financial traces. Because loud statements about a criminal organization must be supported not by press releases, but by evidence that will stand up to court.
For society, the main conclusion is simpler: when armed groups begin to perceive banks as an acceptable target, and the people inside as consumables for their “operations,” it is no longer a matter of ideology. This is a security issue. And the sooner such logic is called by its name, the less likely it is that the next raid will end not only with stolen money, but also with dead people.
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