‘It was a trap’: Easey Street murder suspect ‘lured to Rome’ before arrest, family says

The prime suspect in the Easey Street murders, Perry Kouroumblis, was lured to Rome for a potential property deal before being arrested on his arrival, his family says.

His brother, Andreas Kouroumblis, who shared a house with Perry in Athens, said Perry did not travel to Italy as a tourist. “I can only say it was a trap,” he told this masthead.

Perry Kouroumblis says he wants to return to Australia to clear his name.

Andreas declined to give any more details about the alleged deal.

But his other brother, Tony Kouroumblis, confirmed from Melbourne on Tuesday that Perry had been approached by a Greek-Australian investor, who had shown interest in buying or investing in one of the family’s properties in Greece.

He said the investor had invited Perry to come to Rome to discuss the deal.

“He met him about three months ago and then arranged [for him] to go to Italy,” Tony said on Tuesday. “Totally set up.”

This masthead has not confirmed the identity of the mystery investor. Border police said Perry Kouroumblis, 65, appeared to be alone when he was arrested at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on September 19.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman would not say if the force had any role in the alleged plot to lure Kouroumblis out of Greece.

“A 65-year-old dual citizen of Australia and Greece was arrested at an airport in Rome by local authorities on Thursday evening, 19 September. A charge and warrant was in place for his arrest. The man remains in custody, and Victoria Police will now work to seek his extradition,” the spokeswoman said.

Fernando Speziali, chief commissioner of border police at Fiumicino Airport, said that after receiving an Interpol alert on September 18 – a day before the arrest – police began monitoring flights.

Chief Commissioner Fernando Speziali, head of the police unit at Fiumicino Airport in Rome.

“We received a report from Interpol, which had received information from our Australian colleagues, indicating the possible arrival of a wanted man coming to Italy from Greece,” Speziali told this masthead.

“The name was provided and, together with Interpol, we started to check and monitor all the flights from Greece,” he said.

Speziali said five officers were sent to check passengers as soon as they disembarked from Perry’s Athens flight – which landed at 12.30pm on September 19 – because it was in the Schengen Area that allows passengers to move freely between countries, including Greece and Italy.

“We stopped all the individuals who in some way corresponded to the age or the characteristics of the individual sought by the Australians until we spotted a passenger with a Greek identity card,” he said.

Easey Street double murder suspect Perry Kouroumblis in the late 70s, when he would have been a teenager.

“He had been identified as Perry by the Australians, and we identified him as Perikles. Then we escorted him to our offices, photographed him, took his fingerprints and discovered that he was the person of interest to the Australians.”

Speziali said Kouroumblis did not look like a businessman. He told police he was a tourist, but they did not question him further about why he was in the Italian capital.

“We have no particular interest in investigating the reason for his visit, unless we are specifically requested to do so by foreign authorities,” Speziali said. “He said he came for tourism.”

Speziali said Kouroumblis was “passive” when approached by officers and did not resist arrest or try to flee.

Perry Kouroumblis, the prime suspect in the Easey Street murders, is being held at Regina Coeli, one of Italy’s most overcrowded and violent prisons.

“He was neither co-operative nor did he resist,” he said. “He closed in on himself, he did not share any information.”

Kouroumblis, a dual Greek and Australian citizen, is now in Regina Coeli prison awaiting extradition to Australia after telling a Rome court he would not contest the request.

He left Australia for Greece in 2017 after being asked by cold-case homicide detectives to take a DNA test for their investigation into the rape and murder of Suzanne Armstrong and the murder of Susan Bartlett in January 1977.

No charges have been laid over their deaths and Kouroumblis maintains his innocence.

Susan Bartlett (top) and Suzanne Armstrong were killed in their Easey Street, Collingwood, rental in 1977.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis

He had been working as a welder and living with his brother in the Greek capital before his arrest.

Kouroumblis could not be extradited from Greece because of the country’s statute of limitations, which requires charges to be laid within 20 years of the alleged offence. That provision does not apply in Italy, so police were able to arrest him as soon as he touched down.

Attempts through diplomatic channels to have him returned to Melbourne previously failed, leading him to be put on an international watch list.

Serena Tucci, the court-appointed lawyer representing Kouroumblis, said last week he had told her he had come to Italy “for professional reasons, work-related reasons”.

“That’s what he told me,” she said. “Only for a few days and then to return to Greece, and he did not expect this arrest, that’s for sure.”

Tucci said her client had been shocked at his arrest and was finding his detention challenging, particularly because he did not understand Italian, and had no family members in Rome.

He is being held in one of the country’s most notorious prisons. Inmates rioted for the second time in months last week and set fire to mattresses in their cells. Tucci said Kouroumblis was not affected by the riots but was relying on prison volunteers for clothing and towels.

Victorian authorities have 45 days from the date of his apprehension to prepare an extradition application.

The home in Athens where Perry Kouroumblis was living before his arrest.Credit: Nine News

Homicide squad detectives are expected to travel to Rome from Melbourne as part of that process, which could result in Kouroumblis returning to Australia by November.

A spokesman for the Italian justice ministry declined to comment on the case on Monday.

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