SDOE Official Arrested on Extortion Charges

Police officials in Northern Greece arrested a 47-year-old member of the finance ministry's SDOE financial crime squad and a 42-year-old alleged accomplice who are reportedely accused of extorting a local business man in Thessaloniki.

News reports said last weekend that the 42-year-old had impersonated an SDOE employee and demanded 2,000 Euros so as not to impose fines for tax violations on his business, according to the complaint filed by the victim.

Police set up the stage at a pre-arranged meeting point within the city's vegetable market last Friday, and arrested the 42-year-old when he turned up to take the money from the business man.

The investigation that followed revealed that the suspect had intended to share the blackmail money with the 47-year-old SDOE employee, who was obviously also arrested.