Crime

Domestic violence reports in Greece rose 36% over the past year, with arrests up 64%, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis announced Thursday during a visit to the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Arrests were made in 54% of domestic violence cases, compared to 45% last year. To support victims, 547 "panic buttons" were installed this year, activated 113 times.

The authorities seem to have embarked on a concerted campaign to chart and crack down on organized crime. The results so far, however, demonstrate the need for these efforts to be stepped up. Deadly exchanges between some very dangerous "professional" criminals are becoming more frequent and brutal.

Six municipal officials, including the directors of urban planning services, are among the 21 people arrested in a corruption crackdown targeting urban planning offices in Halkidiki.

The arrested also include two relatives of the officials and 13 private individuals, among them a former deputy mayor, engineers and surveyors.

Authorities in the northern region of Halkidiki have seized 1 million euros in cash and arrested 21 people in a corruption crackdown targeting urban planning offices.

The suspects, primarily urban planning employees, allegedly accepted large bribes to provide expedited or preferential services.

The investigation is ongoing.

A new nationwide survey shows a significant rise in public concern youth delinquency in Greece over the past few years. 

Conducted by Prorata and presented at an event organized by the Institute for Social Democracy - InSocial, in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Athens, the study highlights growing concerns among the public about rising violence among minors. 

A tragic incident unfolded on a road in Orlando, Florida, where a Bulgarian man lost his life after being shot in what authorities are investigating as a road rage incident. According to local media reports and a statement from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Central Florida, the victim was a 42-year-old Bulgarian national.

Greece has dismantled a criminal group that trafficked Colombian women to Greece and forced them to perform sex work at apartments and strip clubs, police said.

Police this week arrested the alleged leader and eight members of the sex trafficking ring which has been operating since at least 2019, police said in a statement.

Police announced on Sunday the dismantling of a burglary ring responsible for break-ins at three government ministries in September.

According to authorities, two members of the gang were arrested and brought before a prosecutor, while a third suspect has been identified.

The institution of protected witnesses works everywhere in the democratic world as a tool to clear up cases of corruption and organized crime. In Greece, it was used by the previous government as a weapon of slander against its opponents, leading to its degeneration. 

Following new directives from the chief public prosecutor's office in Istanbul, authorities have initiated a crackdown on unlicensed firearms, leading to the arrest of nearly 80 people.

"Around 97 percent of crimes involving firearms in Türkiye are committed with unlicensed weapons," Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek told daily Milliyet on Oct. 28.