A criminal organization was dismantled by the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Forces, whose members were active in blackmailing the owners of shops of health interest, in order to receive sums of money, in order to avoid certification of administrative violations.

A total of -14- people were arrested, of which -9- were civil servants

For the case, -14- people were arrested, including -9- civil servants, against whom a case file was filed -as the case may be- for criminal organization, extortion, bribery of an employee, bribery of an employee and complicity in it, forgery, violation of official secrecy, dereliction of duty, false certification, for violations of sports, weapons and immigration laws.

The file also includes -9- employees

The case file also includes -9- employees, who did not have a role as members of the organization, but assisted its work, without permanent participation.

The existence of the criminal organization emerged after investigating a complaint, regarding private individuals, who, in collaboration with municipal authorities, blackmailed shopkeepers, with the aim of their financial benefit.

For the investigation of the case, information and pre-investigative data were evaluated and utilized, while special investigative actions were implemented, the further analysis of which revealed the existence of a criminal organization, operationally structured and with continuous activity, the members of which, at least from January 2023 , were engaged in the aforementioned illegal activity.

The roles – How they worked

In this organization, the leading members of which were private individuals, had recruited and joined as members the Head of a municipal Authority as well as employees of other public services of the prefecture of Attica, responsible for inspections of shops of health interest, while other private individuals also participated, who had distinct among the roles, namely:

  • 43-year-old and 64-year-old (individuals), leading members of the organization, coordinated the action of all members, including employees,
  • A 41-year-old private person, a relative of the 43-year-old woman, had assumed the role of collector – cashier, receiving the sums of money from the shopkeepers, which he stored and then, by order of the leading members, distributed to the other members. He also served as the 43-year-old’s driver and companion.
  • A 75-year-old woman, a relative of the 43-year-old and the 41-year-old, had given space in her home to store the money,
  • 55-year-old, had assumed the role of driver of the 43-year-old, as well as the role of debt collector,
  • the rest, holding a position in the public sector, were in charge of controlling health shops, hotels and construction works (Municipalities, Municipal Police, Construction Services, Health Control Directorates, Ministry of Culture, etc.) and played a key role in the operation of the organization, as it was impossible to develop its illegal activity without their assistance.

In particular, regarding the modus operandi of the organization:

  • the leading members approached shopkeepers, mainly in the Athens area, to whom they offered and provided protection in order to avoid damage to the business, by preventing the attestation of administrative violations,
  • at the behest of the senior members, the officials carried out targeted checks on the said shops in order to force them to submit to the extortion,
  • officers provided information about upcoming store inspections that they knew about through their services to senior members, who then informed store owners to be prepared;
  • officials received sums of money to overlook established violations, as well as to certify false facts in public documents, while in many cases they did not proceed to carry out the required checks and drew up false documents.
  • In order to achieve their illegal purpose, the leading members directed the officers for targeted checks in stores, as well as for attesting specific violations in them. In this way, shopkeepers were forced to turn to the organization in order to protect themselves, paying a monetary fee.
  • In the event that the shop owners did not accept the protection provided by the organization, they received threats that they would be subject to inspections by municipal authorities and administrative fines would be imposed on them.
  • The members, in order for their action not to be noticed, took protective measures, with their meetings (among themselves or with the shopkeepers) and donations taking place in specific places and briefly, while their communications were also carried out through online applications with strict protection measures.

The “tariffs”

The members of the organization received sums of money ranging from -6,000- to -16,000- euros per year, from shops of health interest, -1,500- per year from kiosks, while there were also cases where they received fees from -1,000- to -35,000- euros for an illegal act or omission.

The above sums were then distributed among the members of the criminal organization and, in particular, for their illegal activity they received, for example:

  • Municipal Police officer: from 3,000 to 6,000 euros per store, per year.
  • Building Services employee: from 1,000 to 2,500 euros per case.
  • employees of Health Control Directorates: from 250 to 2,000 euros per case.
  • employees of the Ministry of Culture: from 6,000 to 10,000 euros per case.

From the investigations so far, -47- cases have been identified, while the total benefit is estimated to exceed the amount of -700,000- euros per year.

What did the investigations find?

In searches carried out, among others, were found and seized:

-439,140- euros,
-26- watches,
golden pound,
-19- mobiles,
-3- laptops,
-3- hard drives,
-7- cartridges,
pepper spray,
-96- anabolic substance tablets and
number of seals, responsible declarations and documents.

Those arrested were taken to the competent prosecuting authority.