Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-14

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Dutch FM: 'Preferable to have effective border control than close Greek-FYROM borders'

[02] Three British nationals arrested with heavy weapons in northern Greece

[01] Dutch FM: 'Preferable to have effective border control than close Greek-FYROM borders'

"Some EU member-states are urging FYROM to close its borders with Greece. However, as we concluded, it is important to continue the process of European cooperation on the matter. It is much more important to have an effective border control than to close them," he said.

The Dutch foreign minister also said that his country, which holds the EU presidency for the current 6 months, believes it is very important to hold talks with Austria, Greece and FYROM in order to find an effective solution for the refugee crisis.

On Friday, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz urged FYROM to be ready to stop migrants at its borders with Greece, during a visit to the country.

Koenders will be in Athens this afternoon for talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at 18.00 (local).

[02] Three British nationals arrested with heavy weapons in northern Greece

The prosecutor charged two of the three suspects with participating in a criminal organization, involvement in terrorist acts, smuggling and transportation and possession of ammunition and firearms.

The three men were arrested by coast guard officials near the customs office at Kipoi. During the search, officials found 18 machine guns and tenths of thousands of bullets neatly packed in boxes and hidden crypts, as well as 400 U.S. dollars, 2,000 Turkish Liras and 10,000 Iraqi dinars on one of the suspects. A second suspect carried 900 euros and five cell phones.

According to the initial investigation, the weapons are likely to have been bought in Germany and Austria and were to be transferred to northern Iraq. Authorities believe the three men were a member of the same criminal group but no terrorist link has so far been established. They say it appears that the purpose of the transfer of these weapons was to sell them. None of them has a record of a prior arrest, criminal action, or pending arrest warrant in any European country.

Police also said the suspects had been residing in a hotel in Alexandroupolis for about eight days.

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