ELAS put an end to the action of a gang that was robbing old people’s houses in the southern suburbs of Attica. The gang was noted for its members’ tactic of pretending to be electricity workers or elevator maintenance workers in order to convince elderly people to trust them.

Specifically, DIAS Team police officers, arrested in Ilioupoli three men aged 57, 38 and 31, who just before had broken into a house. The arrested are accused of aggravated theft by complicity and by continuation.

The police officers, after a call to the Immediate Action Center for a burglary at a house in Ilioupoli, rushed to the scene, where they located the accused and immobilized them. During their attempt to escape, the 38-year-old, after falling on the stairs of the apartment building, injured his leg.

A sum of money, 2 mobile phones and 2 hand chains were found in their possession and confiscated. Nearby, the vehicle they used for their transport was found and confiscated, inside which a box of disposable gloves was found.

As emerged from the preliminary investigation, the defendants, at least since March 2023, had set up and joined a group with continuous action and distinct roles among its members, with the purpose of committing thefts from homes of the elderly in areas of the southern suburbs of Attica.

In particular, in terms of their mode of action, the defendants, mainly in the morning or midday hours, with their facial features partially covered and moving in cars, would locate their potential victims at the moment they were returning to their homes. They chose elderly people, whom they tricked into allowing them into their homes by pretending to be electricity workers or elevator maintenance workers.

After securing their entry to the houses, they made sure that the central door remained open, so that at an unsuspected moment, other members of the organization could enter, who, with quick and methodical movements, searched the premises and removed jewelry and sums of money.

In order to maximize their loot, they persuaded the elderly to wrap sums of money and jewelery in aluminum foil to ‘protect’ them from the impending work and then removed them.

From the preliminary investigation so far, an additional 8 thefts from homes for the elderly in the areas of Ilioupoli, Glyfada and Voula have been discovered. The investigation is ongoing to ascertain the full extent of their criminal activity.

According to ELAS, the financial benefit they obtained from their criminal activity is estimated to exceed 230,000 euros.

It is noted that the accused have in the past concerned the Authorities for similar crimes.

Those arrested were taken to the Athens District Attorney.