Officer’s identity publicized
The Hellenic Police (ELAS) yesterday identified the 39-year-old officer held on charges of sexually abusing and exploiting a 19-yearold woman as Dimitris Bougioukos. ELAS also released images of the suspect, who was arrested in the eastern suburb of Ilioupoli last Sunday. The publication of his details was approved by judicial order in a bid to encourage potential witnesses to come forward and to protect the public. The specific disclosure is for a period of six months, according to the orosecutorial order. Beyond this time limit, the maintenance and/or reproduction of the publication is illegal.
Human trafficking. Police announced yesterday that they had dismantled a criminal organization in early July which was active in facilitating the smuggling of migrants over sea from Greece to Italy. Eight members of the organization were arrested on July 4 in parallel operations on the Ionian island of Lefkada and in Athens, including six foreign nationals aged 24, 32, 36, 39, 44 and 45 and two Greeks, aged 47 and 48. Another three Greeks were also arrested for abetting the group. According to police, the gang trafficked migrants in boats from various coastal areas of western Greece to the Italian coast. Candidate passengers were located through a social network the group had developed. The fee for the trip from Greece to Italy was set at 5,000-7,000 euros per person.
Website probe. An urgent preliminary examination was ordered by the Thessaloniki Prosecutor’s Office yesterday after the publication of personal data on 21 police officers – most of them elected trade unionists – by an anti-establishment website. In a written request, the Prosecutor’s Office called on the Hellenic Police’s cybercrime division to conduct an investigation to identify the authors of the announcement and to establish whether breaches of personal data were committed, and if there is a case for the incitement of crime and the spreading of fake news. The website published the names and addresses of police officers while the post was signed by the self-proclaimed “Organization of Anarchist Action” group.