A 35-year-old man of Cretan origin pleaded guilty before an Edinburgh court to possession of objects for a terrorist purpose.
The case concerns an improvised explosive device found in the Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh in January 2018.
The explosive device, which was placed in a shoe box, was noticed by a park ranger who called the anti-terrorist who proceeded to neutralize it without causing any injuries or damage.
The 35-year-old was arrested in the summer of 2021 and today he is being brought before the Court.
Posted by dailyrecord.co.uk, reports that Nikolaos Karvounakis claimed to be a member of the International Terrorist Mafia – a Mexican eco-terrorist group.
In fact, about a month after the device was discovered, he allegedly contacted a newspaper reporter, sending a photo of her and describing himself as a “lover of zero-sum political violence.”
Prosecution authorities allegedly traced him to DNA found on adhesive tape in the improvised mechanism.
According to what was reported in court, the 35-year-old allegedly sent an email to a newspaper reporter in February 2018 with a sender called “International terrorist group in the United Kingdom”. It contained a link to an eco-extremist website where he claimed responsibility for setting up the device anonymously. He signed as “Misanthropos Cacogen” and claimed to be a member of the “International Terror Mafia”.
The defendant pleaded guilty, however – as the defense attorney stated – he insists that he intended to cause disturbance but not bodily harm and when the device was left in the gardens it was not set to explode.
The prison sentence for the 35-year-old is expected to be announced next month.
CRETALIVE
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