Greek envoy faces arms trial
By CNN's Anthee Carassava
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Greece on Tuesday said it had recalled its top envoy from Slovakia and ordered an urgent inquest into allegations that the diplomat is involved in arms smuggling.
A foreign ministry statement said Ambassador Efstathios Daras had been dismissed from his duties after customs officials in the northwest port of Igoumenitsa detained him after finding a gun, silencer and cache of bullets in his car last Sunday.
An investigation, the statement said, was also ordered by Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis to determine why Greece's embassy in Bratsislava failed to alert Athens to media reports last September that Daras had allegedly smuggled six guns from Slovakia to Greece.
Authorities contacted by phone in Igoumenitsa, 435 kilometers northwest of Athens and one of the country's major gateways to Western Europe, said the diplomat had testified before a local prosecutor but had been released pending trial.
"He insisted on his innocence," a police official said. "He claimed he had a legal Slovak arms permit and was a member of a target shooting club in Elefsina," 20 kilometers northeast of the Greek capital.
Daras, on holiday leave from Bratsislava since last Friday, faces trial June 15.
