Robbers who decided to take advantage of an empty city center on the evening of Christmas Day netted half a million euros after breaking into a jewelry store near central Kaningos Square.

According to police, the perpetrators entered the store through its light shaft and emptied the cabinets on the first floor of the building, where the bulk of the jewelry had been kept. The jewelry taken has been valued at 500,000 euros.

Robbers targeted a second jewelry store on nearby Panepistimiou Street, police said without linking the two raids.

There were also several robberies on Christmas Eve. In Kypseli, central Athens, four gunmen made off with an unspecified sum after holding up a post office. Later the same day another post office was targeted in Petroupoli, northwestern Athens, and gunmen raided a bank in Galatsi.