In Brief
PEDOPHILE CAUGHT
Man arrested for sexually abusing teenage boys A 37-year-old unnamed man confessed to Thessaloniki police yesterday that he has been responsible for sexually abusing some 15 boys aged 13-17 over the past decade whom he met either via Internet sites frequented by teenagers or by approaching them at popular hangouts. Police were alerted to the man’s activities when the mother of a 14-year-old boy filed a report alleging that her son had been raped by the suspect in 2009 and that the 37-year-old had maintained contact with the teenager. The man, who was arrested after being traced by police monitoring the 14-year-old boy’s e-mail and mobile phone correspondence, has been charged with sexual abusing minors and possession of pornographic material featuring children. POLICE MUGGERS Two officers suspended Two Athens police officers were suspended yesterday on charges of blackmail and assault. Internal Affairs investigators were approached on Tuesday by a citizen who told them that he had made a deal to purchase a mobile phone from a 23-year-old policeman. The man alleged that after failing to pay the full 700 euros agreed for the device, he was attacked on Tuesday morning by the policeman, as well as by a 27-year-old special guard and another 30-year-old man, and robbed of 160 euros. The three men allegedly demanded that he must pay the rest of the money within two days, after which the man contacted Internal Affairs, who marked the cash he was supposed to hand over to the policemen and caught them in the act. Arson charges Three people were charged yesterday with starting a fire on the northeastern Aegean island of Samos on Monday that is estimated to have destroyed 1,000 hectares of forestland. A beekeeper, his wife and another man, a relative, are believed to have accidentally set the blaze when smoking their hives. Traffickers nabbed Border guards near the Evros Delta in northern Greece arrested 42 illegal immigrants and seven human traffickers yesterday. The guards’ report said that they had had the illegal immigrants, who were spotted at the Doriskos border crossing, under surveillance and followed them after they were picked up by a truck and two cars. Young thieves A group of thieves were caught red-handed on Monday when members of the DIAS rapid-response unit saw the three young men – aged 15, 17 and 22 – emerging from an apartment building in Ilioupoli, southeast Athens, carrying the loot. The youths, who are all from Georgia, are believed to be behind at least another five burglaries at homes in the Athens area. Lethal fall An 82-year-old woman in Thessaloniki died yesterday following a fall from the balcony of her second-story apartment. Police are investigating whether she fell by accident or was the victim of foul play. Wiretap probe The Supreme Court said yesterday that it has handed over to the Athens Appeals Court prosecutor the case file pertaining to the wiretapping of top government officials during the 2004 Olympic Games.
