Police officer nabbed for playing sick – for a 162 days

A police officer who took 162 days of sick leave in the past two years using bogus declarations of illness faces disciplinary action from the police force and a separate criminal trial.

The unnamed officer was arrested on an expedited warrant after being charged by internal affairs investigators for bribing doctors and lying to the police force's medical inspectors, among other misdemeanors. He was arrested on Thursday after the police's medical committee dismissed his application for 20 days leave for lower back pain.

He appeared before the committee on crutches, which were confiscated by his colleagues when they took him into custody. Internal affairs investigators also found that he had spent part of his sick leave last year working at a bar on the island of Mykonos.