A 16-year-old Thessaloniki schoolboy alleged to have exacted around 2,500 euros from a classmate as protection money for not beating him up is today due to face an investigating magistrate on multiple charges of extortion.

According to police, the alleged bully, who is believed to have beaten his classmate in the past, threatened to “send him to the hospital,” either on his own or with the help of friends, unless he received payment. The cash was paid in installments over a period of two weeks, officers said.

The father of the alleged victim alerted police after discovering a sum missing from his bank account, which his son had accessed after getting hold of his father’s bank card number.

Officers subsequently provided the boy with 700 euros in pre-marked bills and instructed him to arrange another meeting with his classmate for the next installment. Police turned up at the meeting spot outside an Internet cafe in western Thessaloniki and arrested the alleged bully.