ATHENS – The arrest of three anarchists in raids on properties in the Greek capital put Greek police close to breaking up the Group of Popular Fighters, one of the last active terrorist gangs left active in the country, officials said.

A raid on a basement property in the neighborhood of Koukaki near the Acropolis turned up explosives and detonators similar to those used by the group in its attacks, said Kathimerini.

Sources not named told the paper that one of the three suspects was the author of a text claiming responsibility for an attack by the group in December 2018 that targeted the building housing SKAI TV as well as Kathimerini.

They were not named in accordance with Greek privacy laws that protects even suspected terrorists, identified only as two men aged 42 and 38 a 36-year-old woman, who face charges of weapons and explosives possession.

But they won't be charged with any terrorism-related counts, the report said, without explaining why not given that they had explosives, with police saying they were likely planning another attack by the end of the year.

The two male suspects are known to police, the elder with links to fugitive bank robber Vassilis Palaiokostas and the younger thought to have ties to Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, another guerrilla group, many of whose members are jail and were thought to be orchestrating attacks in the city from their jail cells.