They had turned the Saturday outings of minor children in the center of Heraklion into a nightmare with their action. Minors themselves but on the…opposite bank. With butterfly knives on their belts, violence and threats against unsuspecting children who just wanted to have a good time on their Saturday. They enjoyed terrorizing them, humiliating them and extracting their meager pocket money.

According to Heraklion Security, the two 15-year-olds and their 17-year-old friend had formed a gang within the framework of a criminal organization. The offenses attributed to them, based on the case file, as written by the Cretaliveis a robbery by continuation and by complicity, committed and attempted, criminal organization – gang.

The “triad” targeted groups of underage children who were usually out for a Saturday afternoon walk. It is no coincidence, moreover, that the described incidents concern the afternoon hours of Saturdays, March 2 and 9.

The case file concerns a total of ten victims, most of whom are 12.5-13 years old. It is shocking that the accused minors did not even hesitate to threaten the children with a knife to snatch their pocket money.

The first incident concerns Saturday, March 2, when four underage friends were walking on Ikarou Avenue, in front of the entrance to the old municipal parking lot, under the statue of El. Venizelou. With a butterfly knife, they forced the children to hand over all the 20 euros they had on them. And this happened in time a few minutes before 8 in the evening.

Next Saturday, March 9th, at a similar time, the “triadry” targeted another minor and his girlfriend who were carelessly walking along Beaufort. The perpetrators threatened the boy and when he tried to escape, they grabbed him by the neck and forced him to hand over the only 5 euros he had on him.

Five minutes later, right across from the Archaeological Museum, they saw another group of three boys. They were unsuspectingly sitting on a bench when they were approached and forcibly forced to hand over 15 euros they had in their possession.

Almost 20 minutes later the gang of three headed towards the beach side, near a well-known hotel, where they found two more minor boys on the way, who threatened them with a knife. But they did not have time to take money from them as they retreated at the sight of a passing car.

Heraklion Security Police officers moved very quickly to identify the juvenile offenders and on Monday morning proceeded to arrest both themselves and their parents for the crime of neglecting supervision.