A man “suspected of terrorism” and wanted by US authorities on two Emirates flights on Thursday was in Athens, it emerged Friday afternoon. He is a Turkish citizen of Arab origin.
Despite a thorough security check on passengers bound for Dubai and New York, this man was not on an Emirates flight, but had been living quietly in Athens for the past 3 years. According to state broadcaster ERT, the man is 35 years old and has been legally residing in Athens for the past 3 years. He asked for asylum and received a temporary residence permit. He also applied for a visa to travel to the US, where his wife and child have been living for some time. He has not yet received a positive response.
According to Live News and newsit.gr, the man is a Gülenist in exile who fled Erdogan’s persecution to Greece with his family. At the same time, his wife and child received an American visa a few months ago. Referring to data from the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection, ERT added that the man has not been arrested, but an identification procedure is underway. The media later reported that the police found him at his home and he was most likely asleep.
According to a complaint from the CIA, the “suspect” belonged to a terrorist organization. According to the news site enikos.gr, the man in question has long been under the gun of the security services, as he received a complaint that he belongs to a terrorist organization. The complaint was filed with the American intelligence services, who forwarded it to the Greek national intelligence. EYPand she informed the rest of the competent Greek authorities. Reportedly, the warning sent by EYP to the police was not of a particularly high level. “And this is because, according to the information, they knew where the Turkish citizen was and knew that he was not on specific flights,” the website says.
The man has no criminal record in Greece.
According to a complaint to the US authorities, he was going to fly from Greece to the US yesterday, which is why the mobilization and alert was issued on Thursday. A slightly different version is given by the news site in.gr: “A Turkish citizen was about to commit a terrorist attack on flights departing from Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” to New York on November 10 and 11 on an Emirates flight.”
Despite a thorough security check on passengers bound for Dubai and New York, the person was not on either the Emirates flight to New York or the flight to Dubai. “There were no aggravating circumstances against this person,” the website notes.
Much ado about nothing?
Greek authorities are reportedly planning to implement strict security controls on two Emirates flights to New York and Dubai, due to depart Athens on Friday. The CIA report put Greek authorities on alert Thursday afternoon as police, counter-terrorism and national intelligence units rushed to Athens International Airport. Read also the post “Eleftherios Venizelos”: one plane did not take off, the second returned, accompanied by fighters.
CIA having fun? pic.twitter.com/Xr2hf9zBSn
— Athens News (@russianathens) November 11, 2022
The flight to Dubai was halted just before takeoff, and the plane bound for New York was ordered to deviate and return to Athens, escorted by two F-16 fighters, as in the case of Code Renegade.
Program Live News Magazine on Mega TV criticizes the actions of the Greek authorities, noting: “If it was registered, why didn’t they first check it at home, but create problems for dozens of passengers?”. Many generally believe that this was a “signal” for Saudi Arabia, to which the United States wanted to show that if the country’s leadership does not change its policy, the number of troubles for the Saudis will increase every day …
A few scenes from the plane and the airport from unlucky passengers:
#ek209 Emirates Flight EK209 suspect remains seated and not allowed to leave the plane pic.twitter.com/EM99rAxQeN
— Fragolevantinos (@fragolevantinos) November 10, 2022
#ek209 Emirates Flight EK209 suspect remains seated and not allowed to leave the plane pic.twitter.com/zXJZXHTPLG
— Fragolevantinos (@fragolevantinos) November 10, 2022
#ek209 Emirates Flight EK209 pic.twitter.com/Rahxk2RFVv
— Fragolevantinos (@fragolevantinos) November 10, 2022
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