NEWS

Police caught in Athens sting

Four men, including two police officers and a local administration official, have been arrested in Athens on suspicion of involvement in a ring dealing in forged identity documents, police said on Saturday. Internal Affairs squad detectives working on a tip-off arrested a policeman on Friday moments after the officer had handed over a forged identity card and a passport to an undercover colleague in exchange for 4,000 euros, police said. Another two men in the car at the Nea Philadelphia rendezvous were arrested too. The policeman was also to be charged with drug possession after a small quantity of cannabis was found in the car. The second officer, identified as Haralambos Lioliosidis, deputy commander of the Patissia Police Station in central Athens, was arrested early on Saturday after being named as an accomplice by the first officer, who allegedly said his colleague had sold him the documents for 1,500 euros each. The other three suspects were not named, although one was described as the deputy mayor of the Athens municipality of Acharnes – where Lioliosidis used to serve. In 1999, an Athens court acquitted Lioliosidis of involvement in a ring of Acharnes officers that sold forged ID papers to immigrants.

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