Greece Deports 18 Doomsday Cult Members to U.S.

Reuters, December 5, 1999

ATHENS, Greece (Reuters) - Greece deported to the United States Sunday 18 members of an American cult that Washington accuses of planning violence to hasten the return of Jesus as the end of the millennium approaches.

``All 18, including five children, were American citizens,'' a police official told Reuters. ``They were escorted to the airport and boarded a flight to New York.''

Police detained the cult members Friday saying they belonged to the Concerned Christians group and that they had arrived in Greece after Israel expelled them last January.

``We had reports that they could commit mass suicide at the turn of the year,'' the police official said.

Some 50 Concerned Christians whose base is in Denver, Colorado, are believed to have settled at Rafina, a small port town north of Athens.

The group's leader, Monte Kim Miller, has prophesied he will die in Jerusalem in 1999 and be resurrected three days later.