Officer caught in the act of freeing detainee
An officer serving in a central Athens police station was arrested by his colleagues yesterday in the act of releasing a South American detainee after allegedly seeking a bribe, through a friend, from the man’s sister. The policeman, whose name was not made public, was caught just before 4 a.m. in the Omonia precinct as he was unlocking the detention cells to free the Paraguayan national, who had been arrested pending deportation for illegal immigration. Police said the suspect acted during the change of guard, in the hope that his colleagues would not notice what was happening. Together with the policeman, officers arrested his alleged accomplice, a legal office employee who had demanded a 400-euro fee from the detainee’s sister, introducing himself as a lawyer who could legitimately secure the Paraguayan’s release.
