Greek Deputy Minister of Transport Reports Threats by Aris FC owner Karypidis Linked to Thessaloniki Metro Inauguration

Greece’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Nikos Tachiaos, filed a complaint with the head of the Prosecutor’s Office of Thessaloniki, regarding threats he has allegedly received ahead of the inauguration of the Thessaloniki metro, scheduled to open on Saturday after decades of construction.

Tachiaos allegedly received a phone call yesterday from an official of a football team in Thessaloniki, who threatened him that thousands of fans would gather and cause damage to the stations on the day of the inauguration.

“I approached the Chief Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals to report an event that happened yesterday afternoon. I received a phone call from a big football agent of a football company in Thessaloniki, where I was suddenly told that thousands of people are gathered and ‘they will ruin what you are preparing, they will break everything the day after tomorrow when Mitsotakis will come’ and he asked me to convey this to the Prime Minister.” Nikos Tachiaos said.

Tachaios told reporters outside the Thessaloniki courthouse that he wants the threat to be investigated.

In.Gr reports that the threat likely came from Theodoros Karypides, shareholder and owner of the Aris FC, and that this name was brought to the courthouse.

This case quickly reached the Parliament as the independent MP, Petros Pappas, submitted a question to the Minister of Sports, Yannis Vroutsis.

“In Thessaloniki this kind of approach is unacceptable. It is a city which has recently mourned its people as victims of blind hooliganism, of fanaticism, which we all know of course that in many cases it is directed”, he said, likely referring to the death of Alkis Kabanos who was killed by football fans in Thessaloniki in 2022.

The Head of the Thessaloniki Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, Nikos Kallidis, has ordered an urgent preliminary investigation.