Fyli

Police investigating a blast that rocked the northern Athenian suburb of Ano Liosia in the early hours of Monday are looking into the target's personal and professional ties, a report by the ANA-MPA news agency said.

Consultancy professional Andreas Drymiotis made quite a revelation in an article published in Sunday's Kathimerini: According to a decision by three ministers in April 2015, the repayment of the debts three Attica municipal authorities owe to the state and the social security funds - totaling 535 million euros - was extended up to another 2,129 years (i.e. over 21 centuries from today).

A gang distributing large quantities of contraband cigarettes in Greece has been unraveled, police said Thursday. 

According to Attica Police Chief Christos Papazafiris, more than 16 million cigarettes and 4 tons of tobacco were confiscated.

The amount of money in lost tax and levy revenues, he said, amounted to more than 5 million euros.

Police said they arrested four men aged 18, 19, 21 and 23 on Thursday on suspicion of being part of a gang that robbed taxi drivers in the area of Ano Liosia, northern Athens.

The gang allegedly attacked cabbies during the evening hours. Posing as customers, they would physically assault the drivers, making off with money, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

Police in western Attica on Wednesday arrested four suspected members of a burglary racket that targeted elderly residents in the area, using violence to coerce them into handing over cash, jewelry and other valuables.

Officers detained four men, aged between 18 and 39, all residents of a Roma settlement in Ano Liosia and were seeking another three suspected accomplices.

Police put an end to one of the largest drug rackets in the Attica region operating in a number of areas around Athens (Zefyri, Ano Liosia, Salamina, Pangrati, Kolonos, Neos Kosmos, Voula) as well as Chania, Crete.

Two youths believed to be members of a criminal racket behind the violent mugging of a number of Athens taxi drivers over the past six months were to face a prosecutor on Wednesday as police sought another two suspected accomplices.

The two suspects, aged 16 and 19, are both members of the Roma community, according to police.

The Labor Ministry’s general secretariat for welfare was expected to disburse the first tranche of compensation to six Attica municipalities which suffered damage during heavy rainstorms on October 24.