ATHENS – Three people, including the so-called “Syntagma Archer,” who had tried to shoot police with a bow-and-arrow, were apprehended by Greek counter-terrorism police in a further crackdown on violence.

The three were in a stolen car in the northern suburb of  Agia Paraskevi, when officers stopped them, said authorities, Greek media reported. They reportedly had fake ID’s and a police scanner.

Inside the vehicle, police found a Kalashnikov rifle, a submachine gun, a handgun and stolen license plates, as well as clothes for men who may belong to other associates.

The alleged archer in Athens’ main square, was accused in connection with an armed bank robbery in Vevento, northern Greece, in February 2013, was in 2015 given a 13-year prison sentence over an armed attack on members of the police force’s immediate response unit in Pefki, northern Athens and police said he took part in a 2019 bank robbery in  Achaia, western Greece.

He became known for bringing out a bow-and-arrow during the height of the so-called Indignados protests against harsh austerity measures in Syntagma Square across the street from Parliament in 2015.

The other suspect had been arrested in January 2017 as an associate of Roupa but was released in 2018 after the maximum 18-month period of pre-trial detention expired, on the condition that she report to the police every week but vanished. She was convicted in absentia in 2019 to 34 years for participating in a plot to free Revolutionary Struggle leader Nikos Maziotis – Roupa’s partner from Korydallos Prison.

Counter-terrorism police also raided their apartments their relatives apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki. During the arrests, officers also found keys which they believe could lead to new hideouts, media reports said, with police said to believe they were preparing another armed robbery not named.