Three armed Arabs, all alleged terrorists, were arrested at Athens Airport today as they were about to board a TWA airliner which they apparently intended to hijack, it was reported here. The three were seized after a TWA employe found hand grenades in the luggage of one of them.
The Arabs were identified as Miss Abou Jhalil, 22 , Issan Doumit, 20, and Sami Abdoul 18. Police said they were carrying forged Lebanese passports. The three carried tickets for Rome and Milan. They were among 13 passengers preparing to board TWA flight 841 which originated in Tel Aviv and was bound for New York via Rome. The flight was delayed three hours while police searched all luggage and cargo aboard.
Police said that Frixos Servetopoulis, the TWA baggage master in Athens, spotted the grenades concealed among personal belongings in Sami Abdoul’s bag. Athens Airport officials have been examining the luggage of passengers carrying Arab passports because of a recent series of hijackings and other incidents by Arab commandos. Palestinian Arabs have been banned from entering Greece since two terrorists threw a grenade into the El Al ticket office in Athens last month killing a two year-old Greek boy. Athens Airport was the scene of a grenade and machine gun attack on an El Al airliner last Dec. 26 which took the life of an Israeli passenger, The three Arabs arrested arrived in Athens from Beirut on Friday.
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