Policeman arrested for forgery
Police internal affairs officers have arrested a traffic policeman for having allegedly set up a home-based counterfeit banknote production plant with the aid of his computer specialist brother. A police spokesman said yesterday that detectives from the internal affairs bureau – which was set up in October 1999 to tackle corruption within the force – have arrested Dimitrios Mitopoulos, 33, who serves with the Aghia Paraskevi traffic police. They also apprehended his brother Panayiotis, 37, who teaches information technology at a technical school in the port town of Lavrion, 50 kilometers south of Athens. The policeman was arrested after allegedly trying to pass two forged 10,000 drachma notes to a kiosk owner in Lavrion, who called the police. A search of the brothers’ Lavrion house turned up 11 counterfeit 10,000 drachma notes, specialized computer graphics programs and special banknote paper.
