The Thessaloniki prosecutor’s office has launched a probe and asked police to be on the lookout after the man in charge of the city’s airport complained that pilots are repeatedly being targeted by people with laser pointers.

Macedonia Airport manager Savvas Vassiliadis revealed yesterday that since the start of the year between 30 and 35 pilots had reported that the light from laser pens had been directed at their aircraft.

Although small in size, some of the laser pointers, which are freely available on the market, are very powerful and Vassiliadis said regardless of whether people are doing it as a joke, they are endangering flight safety by pointing the devices at airplanes.

Deputy appeals prosecutor Dimitris Papageorgiou has sent a letter to the local police, asking them to seek out and arrest any perpetrators.