Botched steroid deal led to Mani murders

A deal to sell steroids gone wrong appears to have been the reason for the murder of two bodybuilding fanatics, aged 25 and 26, whose bodies were found on Tuesday in a ravine on the outskirts of Kalamata in the Peloponnese, Kathimerini understands.

According to police sources, a 19-year-old local man who was arrested shortly after the bodies were found has allegedly admitted to being at the scene of the shooting but claimed that another man, also aged 19, shot the two victims in the back with a hunting rifle.

Police investigators found the gun and the car which the two suspected perpetrators are believed to have used to dump the bodies of their victims in the ravine.

According to the police probe, the two men – 26-year-old Constantinos Sgouros and 25-year-old Yiannis Kommatis – had been drinking in a bar outside Kalamata with friends on Monday night. On leaving in the early hours of Tuesday, they told their friends they were going to meet someone but gave no further details.

It appears that they failed to procure some 800 euros’ worth of steroids that the two 19-year-olds are alleged to have ordered, prompting an argument that led to the shootings.

The bodies of Kommatis and Sgouros bore several bullet wounds in their backs, according to police sources who said the injuries indicated that the shots were fired at very close range.

Kommatis, a professional soldier who had been serving on the island of Samos, practiced bodybuilding as a hobby and, according to sources, had indicated on his Facebook page his intention to open a store selling vitamin supplements and gym equipment.

Sgouros had won bodybuilding competitions. Photographs showed that he had a tattoo of a swastika.