Racket

It appears that various criminal rackets have taken root in certain popular tourist destinations and that local authorities are in no position to deal with them effectively. This may stem from a lack of resources or from the fact that these rackets have grown so powerful that the local authorities simply cannot counter them.

Three Culture Ministry officials implicated in a wider racket of Athens Municipality and Attica Regional Authority employees who made thousands of euros by granting illegal licenses or providing immunity for zoning and environmental violations, appear to have expanded their activities to the holiday island of Mykonos and been active since last year at least, Kathimerini understands.

The decision to make gas retailers responsible for outlets caught selling adulterated fuel is a good start in the effort to crack down on these rackets.

A slew of measures have been announced to this end now and then, but they need to be implemented, at long last, so as to curb the rackets' activities and the enormous cost of those activities for taxpayers. 

What do tax evasion, electricity theft and illegal fuel rackets have in common, apart from the fact that they're all crimes? They invoke the same feeling that one increasing pool of people is living at the expense of another, ever-shrinking, pool. Are those in the shrinking pool suckers, or are they the true pillars propping up our society?

Despite mounting complaints to judicial authorities, plagiarism rackets that have been organized around Greek universities are reportedly continuing their activities unabated, writing students' PhD theses, postgraduate dissertations and papers, for a fee.

With the participation of some 150 athletes from 15 countries, the eastern province of Şırnak, once associated with terror, is now preparing to host its first international tennis tournament, the country's sports and youth minister has said.

"The noise of the tennis rackets will echo on the foot of Mount Cudi," Mehmet Kasapoğlu told the Daily Milliyet.

A network of active and retired police officers, along with lawyers and entrepreneurs are being investigated in connection with a criminal racket believed to have been providing protection to brothels, strip clubs and illegal gambling dens, Kathimerini understands. 

One of the founding members of the Rouvikonas anti-establishment group, Giorgos Kalaitzidis, was charged on Tuesday with morally instigating the murder of a 36-year-old Egyptian man, an alleged drug dealer, in the Athens district of Exarchia in June 2016.

He was summoned by an investigative magistrate to appear in court on Friday.

Three out of four people arrested in connection with an international racket believed to have been smuggling large quantities of cocaine into Europe and Northwest Africa from the Caribbean island-country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were remanded in custody on Wednesday.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) on Saturday announced the breakup of an international racket believed to have been smuggling large quantities of cocaine into Europe and northwest Africa from the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after seizing 1.18 tons of the drug from rented apartments in the region of Aetolia-Akarnania.