Without a doubt, Greece is collapsing from within and citizens all over the country do not know how (or in what way) to protect themselves. At present Greece is struggling to rise above a six year economic crisis and as such can hardly sustain its own citizens let alone support an unprecedented influx of illegal migrants which are flooding its shores on a daily basis. The government's open border policy is not only deepening the current economic crisis, it is literally destroying the only industry that Greece is successful in ... tourism! Mytilene, which is one of the most picturesque port cities in all of Greece now resembles a city under occupation. Local reports claim that there are more than 3,000 migrants who illegally crossed over from the Turkish coast, are spread out all over the port -and nearby areas- making it look like a third world nation. They sleep on sidewalks, squares, streets and around public buildings, and from what we read the locals and especially tourists are becoming very frustrated with the situation.
Earlier this year, the new government had warned that our country should expect more than 100,000 immigrants to illegally cross over into Greece (most of whom are from the Middle East, Asia and Africa). Already, more than 55,000 migrants have arrived and the island of Lesvos has borne the brunt of this huge influx.
The mayor of Lesvos has already used many community funds to construct a makeshift campsite to accommodate this unprecedented invasion, while local citizens have offered migrants blankets and food. Lesvos does not have anymore facilities to accommodate these migrants and yet the migrants are demanding more. So much so that this past week the situation got totally out of hand and developments took an awful turn. Thousands of immigrants been protesting to Greek authorities demanding better living conditions and faster processing of their asylum registrations. The trouble is, they are not all entitled to asylum. In fact only a small fraction of these migrants are entitled to asylum and with the latest EU law on migration it will become harder and harder for them to obtain asylum in the future.
On Wednesday the migrants staged a violent riot and destroyed much public property on the island.
More exactly, a violent clash broke out when 300 migrants began marching from Mytilini's indoor swimming facilities to the main port. Throughout their march, which incidentally was suspiciously being coordinated by unknown organizers, they were chanting slogans against the Greek state and island residents while they raised placards and other protest material threatening officials to immediately issue them the proper documentation so that they can leave the island and head to Athens. (This too is very suspicious).
The situation took a turn to the worse when migrants attempted to besiege a Greek Coast Guard container trapping Greek officials inside. Following this, a migrant brutally attacked a port authority official on the head and then things got totally out of control. At least five migrants were arrested for extreme violent behavior and more than 10 people were injured, including a pregnant woman. They were all rushed to a local hospital. Luckily local authorities were able to contain the protesters and thus ease the tense situation. (View video BELOW as posted and reported by lesvosnews.gr)
According to a separate report on newsbomb this is not the first time that riots such as those described above have occurred. A violent clash also happened this past Monday between the migrants themselves and many people were injured. It was reported that migrants are also disagreeing amongst themselves. For example, Syrians say they want to be housed separately from Afghans and there are reports that claim that there is physical fighting between these communities all the time.
Greek citizens are hospitable, and tolerant, but enough is enough and the buck stops here!
If you think for one minute that HellasFrappe has no compassion for these people, or that we are sensationalists for daring to report this story, then look at what the locals said today following the protests on their island. This is just a small example of their statements on the social networks (as reported by lesvosnews.gr) read more by clicking HERE
SYRIZA's dangerous open border policy
How much damage has SYRIZA's open border policy made? According to reports the number of illegal immigrants in the Greek island of Lesvos coming from the northern sea borders between Greece and Turkey increased by a whopping 550% during the March-April 2015 period compared to the same period last year.
Let us break it down: According to official data from the National Coordination Center for Border Control, Immigration and Asylum released by the Greek Interior Ministry, 8,735 illegal immigrants from third world countries that were detained by Greek port authorities on the island of Lesvos during the March-April 2015 period compared to the 1,345 immigrants during the same period in 2014. On the island of Samos, the number of illegal immigrants who were detained increased by 534.21%, reaching 2,410, when a year ago they were just 380. And it does not stop there. About 18,456 migrants illegally cross into the islands of the northeastern Aegean and the Dodecannese during the first two months of spring, or marked an increase of 469%. On the other, the migration flow in Evros (northern Greece) was about 869 illegal migrants compared to the 445 people arrested in 2014.
What is the EU doing about this new crisis
In Luxembourg, European Union nations failed to bridge differences on Tuesday over an emergency plan to share the burden of the thousands of refugees crossing the Mediterranean (especially in Italy and in Greece), while on the French-Italian border, police in riot gear forcibly removed dozens of migrants.
What is the international community doing about this?
In a recent announcement the United Nations refugee agency said that the number of arrivals is expected to increase even further during the summer season, when weather conditions make the sea crossing from the Turkish mainland less hazardous. The UN also criticized Greek authorities for not maintaining proper initial reception conditions for these migrants, never once taking into consideration that the people of our country can hardly sustain themselves!
(Question: If the UNHCR knows that migrants are illegally crossing into Greece from the Turkish coast, then why are they not sanctioning Turkey or taking measures to combat human trafficking? Also, the UNHCR claims that more than 90 percent of these migrants are from countries experiencing war and conflict, principally Syria, but at the same time admits that more than 60 percent of the arrivals in Greece this year alone are from migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. The numbers do not add up, and certainly do not make sense.)
Check out this news report as well which was posted on YouTube today by the same channel that posted the riots and which needs to be investigated since it clearly proves that the migrants are not "roughing" it as some would want us to believe, quite the contrary we would say.
While the world concentrates on what is happening with the Greek economy, the far-leftist forces in SYRIZA are putting the final end to the previous government's police operation which successfully curbed the flow of illegal immigration into Greece. As announced by Minister of Immigration Policy Tasia Christodoulopoulou earlier this week, more than 100,000 migrants will illegally cross into Greece this year alone and according to her, Greece will cater to all their needs.
Speaking on MEGA Tv, Christodoulopoulou said that currently there is a funding gap and Athens is submitting proposals to the European Commission in order to get emergency aid to deal with the problem. She insisted on calling the migrants refugees because, as she pointed out, by doing so, the Greek government can get migration funding from the EU.
(HellasFrappe personally believes that she insists on baptizing them refugees and encourages us the people to follow suit because it suits SYRIZA's open boarder policies which are not in Greece's interests.)
As such, the government plans to adopt emergency measures to deal with this anticipated new wave of migrants. A government meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was held on Tuesday, on this very issue with the government stressing that it was "above all a humanitarian issue."
"Recently, an increased influx of refugees has been observed for the same reasons that, at the same exact period, there has been a strongly rising trend of refugee influx to Italy as well," government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis said, after the meeting on Tuesday.
"From the initial records, it appears that the motive of the majority of these people is not financial hardship, but an immediate threat to their lives," Sakellaridis said.
He added that in the meeting it was decided that:
Newly-arrived migrants will be transported from the islands to mainland Greece, where authorities will distinguish between migrants and refugees.
Syrian refugees who qualify for asylum will be given all necessary documents immediately.
A plan was approved to create special covered areas in camps and existing facilities where all necessary medical examinations will be carried out and all health and safety rules observed.
In view of the EU Summit and the relevant ministerial council meeting, the government will carry out all necessary actions in order to manage in the framework of European solidarity the influx of migrants and refugees to Europe and to ensure the proportionate distribution of refugees among all EU countries.
According to the government spokesman the refugee issue is international, not just Greek.
"It requires seriousness, calmness and above all a humanitarian attitude. At this point, political games and gratuitous populism with human lives is unacceptable."
Ministers attending Tuesday's meeting on migration issues included Interior and Administration Reconstruction Minister Nikos Voutsis, Alternate Minister for Civil Protection Yiannis Panousis, Alternate Shipping Minister Theodoros Dritsas, Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Tasia Christodoulopoulou, Admiral Athanassios Athanassopoulos from the Port Authority, a deputy chief of the Port Authority (Nikolaos Patrinos), and a special counsellor to the European Commissioner on Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Commenting on this new threat to our economy and especially our nation (which is suffering greatly on all fronts from the already existing numbers of illegal migrants -most of whom are in Athens-), National Defense Panos Kammenos said that he estimated that the migration problem is “too huge” and that Greece is unable to cope with the number of migrants and refugees from the Middle East. He told ANT1 tv in one interview that “the wars in the Middle East will cause thousands to migrate, but that this issue is not just a Greek problem.
"It is one thing to say I will close the entrance and another to see the sea filled with children. The EU must accept that they are refugees who cannot remain on the islands”.
Kammenos also noted that the recent waves of migration are raising health concerns while he stressed that funding should go towards the construction of hospitality facilities, rather than to FRONTEX (which has so far battled against smugglers).
Kammenos did say that these facilities should not be constructed on the islands since this would only encourage human traffickers to continue with business as usual. He also called for stricter penalties on human trafficking.
The Minister of National Defense also called on the European Union to pressure the Turkish government to respect and implement the Dublin Regulation.
Finally, Kammenos claimed that his comments regarding jihadists heading to Germany, should Greece not stabilize, were misconstrued and explained that his comments were not meant to be taken as a threat, but rather a description of a reality, due to the sharp rise of migration.
Nonetheless, the migration wave to Greece from the Turkish coast continues unabated. Over the past few days hundreds of immigrants crossed into Greece illegally.
In fact, in the first three months of 2015, more than 10,445 migrants illegally entered Greece via sea, (who knows how many crossed over by land). In March alone more than 6,498 migrants were found to have crossed over through the Eastern Aegean.
It is quite interesting to also note that after SYRIZA came to government and until the end of March, the number of migrants that entered Greece illegally increased three-fold compared to the first three months of 2014.
The islands that have received the greatest waves of migration are Mytilene, with about 4,500 migrants currently held there, followed by Chios, Leros and Samos.
Editor's Note: It is more than certain that traffickers will stop at nothing to conduct business as usual, but if FRONTEX is not supported then we here at HellasFrappe suspect that we will see the 100,000 figure skyrocket. This statement was a MAJOR FAIL and Panos Kammenos should never have made it. Also important to note: The far-leftist forces in SYRIZA have always followed an open boarder ideology and some of these forces openly rally for migrants all across Greece. In previous reports we have presented hard information from various sources such as television news reports, statements, analysis, etc., that proves that these very same migrant organizations are trafficking their own people and making billions of euros from this activity -which we all know is undeclared capital-. HellasFrappe truly believes that if SYRIZA presses ahead with the reforms that the Troika desires it will lose its popularity with the people and therefore will look elsewhere for support. This is why we support the theory that they will nationalize these illegal immigrants -by baptizing them refugees- so that they can stay in the political game. This is not only unconstitutional, illogical and ridiculous, it is also dangerous. Let us not forget the threats that have already been made from extremists in some radicalized Middle Eastern nations against Europeans, and let us not forget the countless stories that have been featured on HellasFrappe that literally warn us of this trafficking industry's dangers. We truly believe that the Greek people will not tolerate this threat, and we fear that as it evolves, so will the extreme far right. In fact we believe that the extreme rights's popularity will skyrocket and the only thing that this will achieve is dividing our people even more. Another civil war? Stay tuned Frappers.
Sources: MEGA Tv, ANT1 tv, YouTube, ANA-MPA, enikos, To Vima
The Greek police recently busted a heroin cartel in a combined operation with the US Drug Enforcement Agency. According to reports, the cartel was attempting to transport more than 370 kilos of heroin from Turkey to Western European countries.
A report in To Vima said that during the crackdown a 60-year-old retired police officer was arrested who appears to have acted as the head of the specific cartel. The former officer was apparently working with two Slovenian truck drivers – aged 33 and 45 respectively. To Vima said that authorities had been aware of the retired officer’s involvement in organized crime for well over ten years but did not have the necessary evidence to prosecute him.
The 60-year-old had served in a number of police departments and services and had always been careful not to draw the attention of the internal affairs service. This all changed a short while after his retirement when he apparently got involved with shipping companies and started to become involved in various criminal activities (smuggling illegal cigarettes towards Great Britain, etc).
The report said that between 2005-06 authorities located one of his shops in Scotland containing huge quantities of methamphetamines, while other reports indicate that he was also involved in criminal activities in the occupied territories on the divided island of Cyprus. Through his contacts, the former officer even managed to become a prominent leader in the underworld, acting as a “liaison” between Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
HellasFrappe has frequently rallied against human trafficking and we are especially critical of this phenomenon when it involves Greek networks. We oppose human trafficking of every sort and have taken a stand against the exploitation of humans, resources, etc. We firmly believe that the fight against human trafficking begins with knowledge and have been very critical, and skeptical, of many shady NGOs who claim to be protecting the rights of many illegal immigrants in Greece but who we feel are only fronts for this activity. That is why we always encourage our readers to educate themselves and others about this subject because we feel the real revolution towards reversing this new type of slavery begins in the home. Change can only come when we as citizens stop ignoring a subject and begin staring at it in all its ugliness. Before we present the following article to you, please consider educating yourselves about human trafficking, the forms of existing slavery and the efforts to combat this new phenomenon. Following this, begin to inform others. You don't need a blog, you don't need to make a special effort, and best of all it will not even cost you a penny. All you have to do is spark up a conversation with your families, your children, your parents, your friends, and your co-workers. Mission accomplished! Make sure that they begin learning about this subject which is not just confined to this part of the world, but could -and is- happening everywhere, including Canada, Australia, Europe, and the good old USA. Also, make sure you point out to them that this degradation is not limited to any social or economic class, religion, nation, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, or age because from what we continually discover anyone can potentially fall prey and become a victim. So raising awareness about this subject Frappers will not only help keep you and others safe, it will also prevent trafficking before it begins. Which brings us to the subject at hand. Here in Greece we have it all: the trafficking of fuel, women, babies, weapons, narcotics, goods and services and believe it or not even herbs. This country is a haven for smugglers (Click HERE to find out more about that). With this in mind, and as much as it pains (and especially SHAMES) us to do so, we therefore present yet another report, which is an in depth analysis/report by a set of security and geopolitical experts about this industry. This is a MUST READ and an eyeopener to all of those who continue to advocate for illegals crossing into Greece; And yes Frappers the protagonists are once again GREEK. Make sure to also watch the videos below which are news reports about this subject, as well as read previous reports that were featured by HellasFrappe on this very subject. And please... Share this, so that we can raise more awareness about this issue.
Ioannis Michaletos & Chris Deliso (Balkan Analysis) - The much-discussed illegal immigration phenomenon in Greece presents a security challenge to the country and to Europe in general, and this is the aspect of the issue most discussed in the national and global media. However, human trafficking is also a major financial industry in its own right, estimated in the billions of euros. The revenues and services that characterize this industry are both legal and illegal, and astonishingly enough are generated from activities performed all the way from Brussels to Bangladesh.
Indeed, it is the broad convergence of organized crime, the gray economy, politics and white-collar activities that truly characterizes the Greek human trafficking industry, making it an indispensable part of overlapping licit and illicit economies for many countries- making it a key global industry today.
The following structural analysis of the issue does not consider the security aspect, which is also fundamentally involved with the wealth transfer system that characterizes it. Rather, as we have presented assessments of the security aspect in previous years, we can now concentrate on the structure of organized crime and distinguish its actors and locations, and differentiate its activities, reaching some financial value estimates in the process. Further, we will consider the other beneficiaries of the phenomenon, which include law-abiding Greek citizens employed across the whole run of the public and private sectors.
Finally, we will note the financial benefit of immigration on political parties and local and foreign officials, activists and administrators. The vital financial contribution that the illegal immigration sector makes to these groups is almost never considered, precisely because the ‘legitimate’ actors tend to frame the entire public discourse on the issue.
Since they also control the effective administration of, and reactions to the industry, these entities do not like to draw attention to the fact that they are, in a very tangible and existential way, dependent on the continuation of the criminal industry.
Illegal Immigration in Greece: Structure and Major Transit Routes
Illegal immigration in Greece is mainly characterized by its transitory nature. Greece is the central axis in the “Anatolian geopolitical corridor,” collecting and distributing Asian, Middle Eastern and African immigrant masses into the EU, through primarily Italy but also the Balkans.
The process, which has been developing over the past 25 years and in particular over the last decade, is also marked by a distinct and heavy presence of transnational smuggling networks which are more or less interwoven with the criminal structures that deal in narcotics, arms and counterfeit products between East and West.
Immigrants travel from their home countries via established land routes. Thus Afghans and Pakistanis tend to follow the route via Iran to Turkey, whereas Syrians and Iraqis cross over from their northern neighboring country.
In other land-entry cases, immigrants from further away (including North Africa and Nigeria) often travel to Turkey via air, a phenomenon aided by the visa relaxation process of the Erdogan government, which seems to have ambitions to make Turkey the center of an eventual ‘Islamic Schengen Zone.’ Chinese, Burmese and Vietnamese immigrants also travel by air routes, mostly to Istanbul. (Of course, as has been seen in the last years, a majority of North African migrants travel by ship on the hazardous journey to Italy and occasionally Greece).
Networks and Transport
The first step in the process, and thus the first player in the overall industry, is the external syndicate structure that transports migrants from other countries towards the Greek borders. The major center of these crime groups is Turkey, though not only Turkish nationals participate.
In the major cities of Turkey and in particular in Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Edirne and Mersin, as well as all the ones close to the tri-border corridor with Iran, Iraq and Syria, well-formed smuggling networks quickly assemble prospective “clients” and arrange transfers. Depending on the economic situation of each immigrant, his time schedule and the number of groups assembled, a long march via trucks, vehicles and trains takes form onwards to the Aegean shores. An alternative route to the Thracian land border along the River Evros has been greatly reduced due to fences constructed by Greek and Bulgaria authorities. Nevertheless, this land route is still active to some degree.
Thus given the recent land transport restrictions, immigrants are mostly transferred via the use of small boats from the Aegean coast and, in the cases of the Marmara Sea and the Turkish Mediterranean coasts, by old vessels carrying up to 1,000 people. In any case a smooth flow of around 250 people on a daily basis is ensured, which equals more than 90,000 incoming migrants per year in Greece alone. Depending on weather conditions, the authories’ counteractions and the iron law of supply and demand, numbers fluctuate from less than 30 to over 600 migrants per day.
Immigrant Arrival in Greece and Internal Redistribution
Once immigrants are in Greece, most of them are intercepted by the Coast Guard or Police border guards. The present law requires all of them to be identified, and then to be given a 30-day temporary permit before they are obliged to leave the country.
Almost none of them abide by this clause, however, having already been well informed about how to get to the major urban centers and especially Athens. In many instances smuggling networks have already placed their own correspondents in the Greek islands or near the borders, who take them in the ‘right direction.’
Social Categorizations of Migrants
While casual observers tend to view all immigrants as the same, they are actually divided into stratified social classes within the greater immigrant population in Greece, depending on various factors. Thus a sort of ‘caste system’ exists, one with its own rules and obligations.
Once arriving in the urban metropolis of Athens, immigrants are classified according to their economic and social status. Those with little money quickly become “soldiers” of essentially ethnic mafia groups, forced to sell counterfeit products, small doses of drugs, work in makeshift garment production facilities, cleaning, tourism support and so forth. The rest are usually people who have relatives or friends already established in Greece or in other EU countries, and arrange for them to find a shelter or send them money via Western Union and similar cash transaction platforms. Odd jobs, and in many instances, small-time street criminality are also combined.
The vast majority of both the above categories have the goal of getting into the general European Schengen Zone, and just use Greece as the first basic stop on the journey. Anecdotal and empirical research point out that all are aware of the low employment opportunities in Greece, and thus that their original aim is specific countries of Northern Europe such as Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The Next Network in the Process: External Traffickers and Domestic Logistical Support Structures
At this stage another type of smuggling network comes into places: the one transporting people from Athens, a peripheral illegal immigration hub of European importance, further into Europe.
This sector of crime utilizes a thriving forged papers market (for EU-country identity cards and passports). The interlude period during which the immigrants are in “limbo” provides further secondary roles for migrants, and income for housing slum lords, providers of sexual services, narcotics and cheap tobacco suppliers for a large number of predominantly young Asian and African males. The cheap prostitution of migrant women also necessarily involves the participation of Greek male ‘consumers.’
Organized crime in Greece has literally boomed over the past 10 years, in large part due to the opportunities involved in getting access to the in-transit and outgoing smuggling networks. In Athens, these tend to be dominated by Greeks, Albanians, Pakistanis and Kurds of different nationalities.
Further, the Syrian crisis has created a new Syrian smuggling base as well. Egyptians and Bulgarians are also getting into this illicit sector in larger numbers, usually having secondary illegal sector involvement at the same time.
Also involved are ‘Pontian’ Georgians, who ironically were among the first to ‘come home’ to Greece after the end of the USSR, legally nationalized in the 1990s by the Greek state, at the same time that Turkey was making its own strategic opening with its ‘long-lost kin’ in Central Asia. The Georgians’ native connections in the Caucasus and Black Sea areas also presented ideal conditions for a small number of them to expand the reach of Greek organized crime.
Wider Greek Societal Involvement in the Immigration Business- and the Industry’s Financial Scale
It is by no means only foreigners or adopted minorities who are involved in this crime sector, however. Greeks have an essential, if often subtle or indirect, role to play to make the whole process run smoothly. It has to be noted that seemingly legal professionals such as attorneys, municipal state officers, policemen, taxi and truck drivers and small shop owners are also involved by assisting or supporting the phenomena, due to the need for their services by the smuggling networks at different stages of the process.
A rough estimation is that each of the 90,000 average annual migrants, in the past year alone, generated some 20,000 euros worth of gross labor product into the shadow economy, in both illegal and legal sectors. That’s 1.8 billion euros in all, and not even counting the vast amounts of cash (paid or to-be paid) in transfers outside the country at the entry stage or remittances.
It is estimated that at least half of the 90,000 annual immigrants manage to “escape” each generating an additional 5,000 euros per head for services to exit-route smugglers and the other auxiliary sectors mentioned. That is an additional 450 million euros, bringing the grand total of the human trafficking sector in Greece to approximately 2.2 billion euros annually. And even this estimate is a very conservative one, considering that the revenue breakdown concerns just the annual ‘new crop’ of migrants, without accounting for the pre-existing and “trapped” ones. Although the numbers fluctuate, there are roughly one million illegal immigrants living in Greece at any given time.
It is thus very difficult to quantify the true reach of illegal immigration smuggling in the county, due to the impossibility of identifying the total scope of interactions and inter linkage between the licit and illicit sectors that make the whole process run smoothly. But certainly the money involved is substantial.
About the authors: Ioannis Michaletos is Balkanalysis.com Research Coordinator for Greece, and an independent analyst in Athens, covering issues ranging from political, security and energy-sector developments in the region to intelligence, counter-terrorism and organized crime. HellasFrappe has featured many articles from Mr. Ioannis Michelatos whose reports are not only frequently cited by our blog, and the Greek media, but by participates in international events as well, (recently he was a speaker for the NATO Defense School in Oberammergau, Germany). At present he is also a well respected security and energy affairs analyst at the Institute for Security and Defence Analysis in Athens. The second author, Chris (Christopher) Deliso, is the founder and director of Balkanalysis.com. Originally from the United States, he has spent considerable time in the Balkans since 1998, living in three regional countries and traveling widely for research as a journalist, analyst and travel writer. Currently based in Skopje, Chris writes on a variety of subjects including Balkan political developments and social trends, regional security and intelligence, counter-terrorism and organized crime, as well as regional history, travel, tourism and culture. Aside from directing Balkanalysis.com research and editorial processes, Chris contributes articles, interviews and briefings for the website, and also leads event planning and other relevant initiatives. If you are interested in similar articles, or want an in depth scope on a wider range of Greece security-sector issues, those interested should consider looking for the Studies in Greek Security 2006-2011 report which is featured on Amazon Kindle.
The co-owner of a well-known bakery chain denied charges at a criminal court in Athens on Tuesday which claimed that he was the leader of a major sex trafficking ring. According to reports, the accused who was operating this criminal organization with his brother, purposely lured foreign women to Greece and then forced them to work as strippers. In their defence, the brothers claim that they have been set up, either by a competitor bakery or by laid-off staff, and that the strip joints were set up to accommodate a woman who did not want to work in a bakery.
The evidence in the case, however, says otherwise. According to press reports, twenty-three people have been named in the case, including women entertainers at the strip joints the two brothers ran in Athens. The same reports note that the 23 defendants had set up a structured criminal organisation, led by Angelos G. (A.G.), with clear roles for each, (for the purpose of committing several criminal acts, specifically the economic and sexual exploitation of female foreign nationals from Eastern European and Balkan countries.)
The members of this criminal organisation apparently found desperate unemployed women through a fake job bureau (which they hinted was named "West Line"). According to the same reports, the bureau was operated by a female with the initials N.M. The evidence also claims that this office specifically looked for women who were in financial need and provided them with necessary travel documents and tickets so that they could work in Athens as dancers. When the women made the move and finally arrived in Athens, the members of the gang would pick them up at the airport and then lock them up in apartments, that were either rented or owned by them. They then confiscated their original documents and instead gave them residency permits through fake Lithuanian passports and political asylum applications. In order to force the women to do their bidding, they also threatened them and at times even used illegal substances to force them into sexual acts with customers at strip clubs such as Alcatraz and Star.
To avoid being caught, the criminal gang had also set up a Cyprus-based offshore company (which the same reports note went by the name of Desena Limited) and which had an office in Athens (the office appeared to be managing the strip joints through front men). The money was then laundered through the bakery chain, which for a time was owned by A.G., 46, and his brother (while currently it is in their mother's name).
In his testimony, A.G., 46, said that he opened the strip joints because of a Romanian national "whom I brought to Athens, but she didn't want to work at the bakeries, so I opened the stores for her; I did everything for the love of a woman." He transferred them to an offshore following advice by his accountant, he said. He also said he used to employ 50 in each of the two stores, and claimed he was no longer their owner. "The charges against me were made by a young woman who worked at the store and because she drank a lot, I kicked her out. She did it out of revenge... She was bitter over losing her job," he said.
Authorities made the arrests following two separate complaints filed. One was in June 2008 by a Russian woman who asked authorities for protection from the men and a woman from Poland. Both named the 46-year-old man in their charges.
Charges faced separately by each of the 23 defendants include participating in a criminal organisation, sexual trafficking, violation of immigration laws and money laundering.
The other defendants denied the charges, saying they were simple employees who had no idea of illegal activity. Responding to the claims of staff - dancers, waiters, bouncers and parking attendants, among others - the presiding judge said, "I see. It was like a convent in there."
While the world concentrates on what will happen with the Greek economy, the Minister of Immigration Policy Tasia Christodoulopoulou said on Wednesday that she plans to put an end to the previous government's police operation which was designed to curb the flow of illegal immigration into Greece. At the same time she said that she was going to shut down migrant reception camps.
It should be reminded that the previous conservative government of Antonis Samaras had launched the "Xenios Zeus" program, which was criticized strongly by SYRIZA (as well as all other Leftist parties) in 2013, especially the Greek branch of George Soros' Human Rights Watch.
In an interview with news website left.gr, Christodoulopoulou noted that the so-called 'sweep operation' like the one of Xenios Zeus belongs to the past.
"Even more so since lately, most immigrants are war refugees. To those people we are obliged by international agreements to grant asylum and protection," she added.
She also stressed that the SYRIZA government has decided to shut down the immigrant detention centres that are spread across the country. and which house undocumented migrants that illegally entered into Greece.
"These camps are incompatible with humanitarianism, the rule of law, and any sense of reason," she said, adding that the government is considering alternative accommodation.
(Editor's Note - The ANEL party which is a junior partner to the coalition government has already stated that they will not support this initiative, but we here at HellasFrappe are afraid that the Left will allow this to pass anyway. Let us hope that logic prevails and that this ridiculous proposal gets scrapped. The last thing Greece needs is to become an open boarder to human traffic flows from the Middle East especially during a period when there is so much radicalism.)
A heinous crime was committed in Piraeus last Thursday, but was totally ignored by the mainstream media. According to local reports, butchers murdered a 35 year-old Greek man by first beheading him, and then by dismembering his whole body. The young victim's body parts were found floating in the harbor of Piraeus.
The discovery of his dismembered body was filmed in a video and posted on the Piraeuspress.grnews site and there are some reports that are already claiming that this unprecedented crime was conducted by radical Islamists. The footage, which is only for 18+ audiences, not only confirms the story, but also shows the victim's body parts floating in the harbor.
The 35 year-old victim is apparently from Heraklion Crete. Authorities discovered his headless and mutilated body at the port of Piraeus, (on the side where various ships leave for Crete).
According to defecenent the coroner, Mr. Bogioka, who, after getting over the initial shock and dismay of the brutal murder, said that the perpetrators had dismembered the victim's legs and genitals and then beheaded him. In other words, the victim was tortured mercilessly, and was alive while he was being dismembered.
Defencenet also noted that the murder itself resembles executions which are most commonly conducted by extreme Islamist organizations such as ISIS and therefore suspects that the victim fell prey to such groups here in Athens. The same report notes that this is not as far-fetched as it sounds since a large share of the heroin drug trafficking in Athens at the moment is being conducted by Afghanistan and Pakistani nationals.
HellasFrappe refused to publish the photographs and/or video because it was all too graphic, but if you want to view the footage or the photos then simply click on the reference link below or visit Youtube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdkSn1bMKuI
If you thought the trafficking of narcotics, illegal immigrants, women, cheap labor, arms and energy fuel were the norm, think again. Greek officials patrolling the border with Albania have now been called to also deal with illegal herb smuggling!
According to a report by AFP, citizens from several villages that are close to the Greek-Albanian border alerted Greek authorities on this illegal trade, which they say primarily takes place at a high altitude.
“We discovered a camp in the middle of the mountains and more than a dozen Albanian pickers at work” police officer Christos Mousafidis told the news agency, and added that mules were standing on the ready to transport the harvest.
If you live in Greece, then you would smirk at the remarks that were made by the villagers because it is a well known fact that Albanians smuggle quite a few "green herbs" in and out of the country but these herbs are not used in Greek salad but are rather used for smoking funny looking cigarettes, nonetheless the story is true, and from what it looks like there is definitely a problem.
Quoting the Greek police, the report claims that 4.5 tonnes of a type of sage were getting loaded to leave for neighbouring Albania. It also revealed that illegal herb pickers have also been arrested in Tripoli, Arkadia (in the Peloponnese), with a load of 200kgs of wild oregano.
How ridiculous can some get in order to make a fast buck? The only thing that some foreigners have not looted from this country is the seawater. Or have they? Hmm...
It was recently announced that the numbers of illegal immigrants crossings through Greek and/or European sea borders have risen dramatically due to ongoing economic migration, but also on account of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Addressing reporters at a recent press conference, Greek Minister of Shipping Miltiades Varvitsiotis said that the number of people trying to cross into Greece is expected to triple by the end of 2014 over the same period last year, with 10,500 detained in 2013, while the number reached 17,000 in the first eight months of 2014.
The Greek state is expected to continue with patrols and checks to protect its borders, Varvitsiotis added, and "will not give up trying to save all lives at sea." However, the minister added, the dramatic increase of crossings and the cost of search and rescue operations, including hospitality, have placed a large strain on operational capability and effectiveness.
"We have reached our limits. The risk is to have more incidents at sea," he noted.
This is why the Greek state submitted a request for additional EU funding, said the Minister, in order to address the increased operating expenses as well as all growing staff requirements.
Media coverage of the case of Maria in Greece was influenced by, and indeed fed, unfounded and deeply prejudiced myths regarding members of the Roma community abducting children, says Ireland's children's ombudsman
An inquiry by Ireland’s Ombudsman for Children has found there was a “categorical link” between the media’s reporting on the case of a Roma girl taken by Greek police from a Roma settlement last October and the Irish police’s decision to remove two Roma children from their families days later.
In a report (pdf) of a special inquiry released on Tuesday, the ombudsman, Emily Logan, was critical of the Irish police’s handling of both cases in which members of the public expressed concern that two fair-haired children – referred to as Child T and Child A – in Dublin and Athlone did not resemble their parents.
The children were taken into care amid what were subsequently shown to be unfounded fears they had been abducted. Both children were returned to their respective parents within three days.
“In the cases of both Child T and Child A in Ireland, there was a categorical link to the reporting of the case of ‘Maria’ in Greece. The media coverage of the case in Greece was influenced by, and indeed fed, unfounded and deeply prejudiced myths regarding members of the Roma community abducting children. Sadly, it is clear to the Inquiry that some people living in Ireland share those deeply prejudiced and racist opinions, asserting that members of the Roma ‘rob’ children as a means of accessing social welfare benefits,” Logan concluded.
As Enet has documented in detail, the Smile of the Child organisation, which recently secured custody of Maria, was instrumental in feeding anti-Roma steroeptypes to the media when her case became public. In one of his first interviews at the time, the head of the organisation, Kostas Yannopoulos, said he believed Maria was not Roma and that she was "either sold at maternity, or later abducted, for other … begging, they use these children for begging, or later for prostitution, or, even worse, for selling for other purposes". It later emerged that Maria's Bulgarian Roma birth mother had allowed her social parents to informally adopt her.
The Irish ombudsman said that the member of the public who raised concerns with police about Child A “appears to have been heavily influenced by the media coverage of a case in Greece [the Maria case] which led to a suspicion of child abduction in the absence of any indications or evidence that would support such a conclusion”.
In an email to Irish police, sent four days after the case involving Maria garnered worldwide attention, the member of the public said that she considered the difference in appearance between the child and the rest of the family to be unusual. “The recent news about the little girl Maria who was found made me realise that I should have reported it,” the informant wrote.
The ombudsman described this as an “entirely unwarranted conclusion of suspected child abduction based solely on the child’s appearance and the media coverage of the case in Greece”.
The report said that “much of the international media coverage of that case perpetuated negative myths regarding the Roma community. In particular, the readiness to believe that ‘Maria’ had been abducted was fed by a widespread and long-standing belief that the Roma are ‘child-abductors’. This belief, utterly without foundation, was given credence during the period in which the story regarding ‘Maria’ was prominent in the media.”
In the case of Child T, police intervened after a journalist forwarded them a message left by a member of the public on his Facebook page, which stated:
“Today was on the news the blond child found in Roma Camp in Greece. There is also little girl living in Roma house in Tallaght [Dublin] and she is blond and blue eyes. Her name is [Child T] and the address is [Child T's address]. I am from [country in Eastern Europe] myself and it’s a big problem there missing kids. The Romas robing [sic] them to get child benefit in Europe.” This communication, the Irish ombudsman noted, underlined that “the media coverage of the case in Greece was influenced by – and indeed fed – unfounded and deeply prejudiced myths regarding members of the Roma community abducting children. Unfortunately, the resonance in Ireland also included the negative tones associated with the Greek case, namely the mistaken view that the Roma community does not include individuals with fair hair and features, combined with an immediately heightened suspicion that the presence of such children with Roma families would be readily explained by abduction.”
Were the Irish police “better informed with respect to the Roma community, members would have been able to put the international media coverage of the case of Maria in Greece – which played such a crucial role in triggering Garda (police action in the cases of Child T and Child A – in its proper context,” the report continued.
Apology
Shortly before the publication of the report, Ireland’s prime minister apologised on behalf of the state to the Roma families involved.
“I do apologise to those families, particularly the children who had to put up with these events,” Enda Kenny said.
He was responding to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams who suggested he apologise “as a gesture to those people who have come to our shores, particularly those who have suffered this injustice”.
About 1,133.420 kilos of heroin (as well as other narcotics) were confiscated by Greek authorities in a huge drug bust that took place in the early hours of Friday morning. The operation, which took place in the region of Attica, involved the join action of the Coast Guard, the Hellenic Police’s Drug Enforcement department, the American DEA and the Narcotics and Weapons Division of SDOE (Financial Crimes Unit). Some 11 people have been arrested (five Turkish nationals and six Greek) including a Greek shipowner who appears to have had played a key role in the trafficking operation.
According to initial reports, authorities apparently raided a warehouse in the area of Koropi -on the outskirts of Athens- and at luxury Athens homes of several alleged members of the drug smuggling gang.
Citing its own sources, the Kathimerini newspaper said in a report that one of the locations was the villa in the upscale neighborhood of Filothei -north of Athens- that is owned by the ex-wife of a Greek businessman and shipowner who was also arrested during the raid, along with their 15 year old son. The shipowner has previously declared owning four Dubai based tankers although his claims are still under investigation by authorities.
What is even more shocking is the fact that almost 500 kilos of heroin were found at the Filothei villa, while a similar amount was uncovered at the Koropi warehouse.
In total 1 tonne and 113 kilograms of heroin were confiscated making it the largest drug bust ever made in Greece, and one of the largest ever made at a European level. (Specifically authorities seized a total of 443 plastic packages of heroin, with a total gross weight of one tonne and 133 kg.)
The narcotics were said to be pure and had a value of more than 30 million euros, while the street value was reported to have yielded more than 200 million euros.
During the operation, authorities also seized six luxury cars that were allegedly used to traffic the drugs, as well as 5.1 grams of cocaine, one pistol loaded with 9 rounds and 6,235 euros in cash.
The reports in the Greek press claim that the heroin was shipped to Greece from Iran via Turkey and it is suspected that it was then going to be trafficked to Belgium and Germany. (Apparently the ring had set up several moving companies in Belgium and Turkey as fronts so that they can easily transport the drugs to these countries without raising suspicion.)
Kathimerini also said that various suspects were spotted by undercover investigators on Thursday night transporting drugs from the Filothei villa to the Koropi warehouse. It was also noted that the drug ring was based in Constantinople and led by a Turkish national that was living in Athens for the past few days. Interestingly, the report in Kathimerini also said that authorities fear that 2-3 tonnes of heroin were transported regularly from Iran through Turkey and into Western Europe.
The operation was a success because the suspects were under close observation for six months, but several members were charged with misdemeanors after being arrested for smuggling smaller amounts of narcotics between Greece and Albania. This was apparently done so that authorities could continue operating.
Minister of Shipping Miltiadis Varvitsiotis congratulated the officers who participated in the operation and welcomed the support the Coast Guard received from the Hellenic Police and the American agency.
Greek authorities proudly announced that they successfully busted a notorious human trafficking gang that smuggled people to the USA, Canada, UK and Australia. The police operation, which took place in various areas across the Greek capital, including the Athens International Airport, resulted in six arrests. According to press reports four Greek men aged 41, 28, 25 and 38 and two foreign nationals aged 26 and 31 were arrested while four more members of the gang are still at large.
Quite interestingly, the head of the gang was a 41-year-old Greek man based in Larissa, and as shocking as this sounds the 38-year-old is a police sergeant at the Agios Panteleimonas department in Athens. Also important to note, is that before the arrests were made the 26-year-old Albanian man was ready to travel illegally to the UK.
(It is believed that the arrested police sergeant advised the slave traders on issues regarding identity card theft, and for this service he apparently received 2,000 to 3,000 euros for each ID card he issued.)
While investigating the case, authorities discovered multiple original and counterfeit documents and certificates (including identity cards), as well as other items such as stamps, computers, printers, automobiles, a motorcycle, two pistols (one of which had a suppressor), a pen gun and quite a few rounds of ammunition.
It appears that these human traffickers have been in operation since 2010 and it is suspected that they are responsible for trafficking 96 migrants abroad (in 53 cases).
Analyzing how the gang worked, the same reports in Athens claim that initially the gang adulterated original travel documents and identity cards, which they would often buy from Greeks, who would later report them as lost or stolen to avoid suspicion.
(In fact the investigation revealed quite a few cases of family members who regularly declared that their passports were stolen).
Did they make any money?
Obviously they did. According to the police report the gang managed to generate over 3,000,000 Euros, which was gradually saved and exported to the USA.
The George Soros backed Amnesty International organization once again published a report regarding the issue of illegal trafficking. Basically, the organization is once again trying to ridicule Greece over its handling of the illegal flows of immigration into the country, which it says are refugees seeking a better life in Europe and it has called on the European Union to impose sanctions for direct violations of international human rights obligations.
According to the report, Greece’s treatment of refugees and immigrants on the borders is “deplorable”, because Greek authorities are doing the unbelievable... which is protecting our boarders from foreign invaders. The report says that the violence, intimidation and humiliation tactics used by Greek authorities have become widespread and are routine practices, but it never once notes that all these flows of people are a result of human trafficking.
"The people carrying out these push-backs are state agents. As such, the Greek authorities bear full responsibility for their actions. The authorities must openly acknowledge and ensure an end to the illegal and often dangerous practice of push-backs."
Correct us if we are wrong here at HellasFrappe but we understand that Amnesty International does not want us to guard our boarders like we should be doing, but greet all the illegal immigrants who illegally invade our country with open arms. We should welcome them into Greece with champagne and caviar and then roll a red carpet for them to go on into Europe.
The claims from this particular organization against Greece are ridiculous. Firstly they clearly support the illegal movement of humans, or human trafficking. Secondly, why are they not condemning Turkish slave traders who ship off all these immigrants into Greece with rotting boats? Is Greece responsible for this as well?
Following the findings of the first report, "Greece: Fortress Europe: human rights abuses at the border between Greece and Turkey, July 2013" Amnesty International has collected almost 95,000 signatures from across Europe and Israel that urged Greek authorities to immediately end what they claimed was repression to illegal immigrants.
But don't you find it strange that they have never once collected signatures that will force Turkish slave traders and Ankara to end all this illegal human trafficking by weeding out and arresting all of those involved in this inhumane activity? Seriously, everyone knows that Turkey has transformed into a transit country for the illegal movement of humans and HellasFrappe has addressed this issue on more than one occasion. We have even featured stories from Turkish reporters who have not only raised this issue in their country and revealed astonishing information, but they have also questioned the motives behind all this activity to their own government.
The name "Amnesty International" might sound nice and pleasant to the ear, but do not let it fool you. The organizations that are funded and/or supported by people such as George Soros have specific political agendas and although they have fluffy names that are pleasant to the ear they clearly serve other purposes. We are certain that when this organization began it probably wanted to bring about change, but as with many other organizations and/or people it then received dirty money from George Soros' foundations and therefore had to bow to a different agenda. Today we pity this organization for claiming that it still advocates for human rights, when it is more than evident that the only thing that they are actually rallying for is human slavery and/or human trafficking.
First it was in, then it was out. Then it was in again, now it's out again (for now). The government appears confused and divided over a highly controversial article which would threaten illegal immigrants who accuse authorities of racist abuse with deportation. The article was included in draft legislation to reform immigration policy which is currently being debated in parliament.
Late on Tuesday night, the Alternate Interior Minister, Leonidas Grigorakos, submitted an amendment to the draft law which would see immigrants face deportation in the event that they made allegations of abuse by organs of the state which were then established to be falsehoods by a ‘preliminary investigation’.
Official opposition party SYRIZA, as well as members of PASOK - a partner in the coalition government - condemned the amendment and as a result Mr Grigorakos withdrew the controversial article acknowledging that the opposition to it was based on substantive arguments. However only a few hours later the Interior Minister,Yiannis Michelakis, resubmitted the article provoking furious reactions from the opposition, and indicating disarray and a possible rift in the coalition government between New Democracy and PASOK over the issue.
SYRIZA parliamentary spokesperson Panagiotis Lafazanis said that the Minister had ‘negated and disappeared’ the Alternate Minister.
Mr Michelakis, on reintroducing the measure, claimed that it was necessary to protect forces such as the Coast Guard and the police from immigrants making baseless allegations of abuse.
“The measure is based on the self-evident obligation of every organised state to protect its organs as they carry out their duties. Our Coast Guard is a characteristic example...Who would want them to be prey to baseless, scurrilous and targeted accusations made against them from people who traffic unfortunate souls in our country? You know well that they advise them on arriving in our country to accuse members of the Coast Guard of abuse and attempts to drown them,” Mr Michelakis said.
“I realize that some people have a problem with uniforms,” he said in a barb directed at the left.
Mr Michelakis’s move was supported by New Democracy parliamentary group leader Makis Voridis (who used to be a member of the far-right party LAOS before joining New Democracy) and who accused SYRIZA of protecting people traffickers.
SYRIZA claimed that the measure was racist and was designed to help cover-up incidents of abuse and violence by the authorities against irregular immigrants attempting to enter Greece by often risky means. Such an incident allegedly occurred recently near Farmakonisi when 12 immigrants, eight of whom were children drowned when their boat capsized. Survivors of the tragedy claimed that the boat capsized during an illegal push back operation by the Coast Guard attempting to return the immigrants to Turkey. The Greek authorities deny the allegations while the United Nations Refugee Agency as well as the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe have called for an investigation into the incident.
“It is an unprecedented provision to intimidate the victims who accuse an Organ of the state of a racist crime. Who are you trying to protect? Certainly not a state based on justice,” said SYRIZA MP Vasiliki Katrivanou. SYRIZA parliamentary spokesperson also angrily denounced the measure saying, “The racists are legislating. Why don’t you hang them all instead?”
In the latest twist, Mr Grigorakis withdrew the article - again - on Thursday afternoon. He said that the reason was the controversy created by the measure had given the wrong impression. “We want to assure people that we do not have any desire to dissuade allegations of racist violence and for that we are withdrawing it,” he said.
(*Editor's Note: Too bad, the ND party once again showed signs of weakness in the face of Soros-backed progressive forces. The Samaras government should set its priorities straight, and halt Leftist wannabe progressive forces in Greece who support modern slavery and human trafficking.)
HellasFrappe would like to apologize if the following article is a little difficult to understand at some points, but we refused to edit this article because of its sensitive nature and because it was written by one the foremost experts in his field. We did, however, correct a few sentences so that they can be more grammatically correct.
Ioannis Michaletos (RIMSE) - Greek organized crime networks and Balkan ones, most especially from Albania, have for several years competed amongst each other for illicit revenues and for staking a claim in urban "turfs" that were viewed as locales for raising substantial amounts of revenue from sectors such as narcotics, prostitution and racketeering.
The financial depression in the country along with decades-old buildup of common interests has matured in merges to a great extent creating hybrid networks that have a greater reach not only nationally but regionally. In addition the criminal groups based in Athens especially, tend to supply terrorist groups with weaponry, while being able to "cut deals" for a variety of criminal actors from afar as Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Gulf states, Czech republic and Latin America.
Arms trafficking in and off the country are becoming a menace for Greek security authorities, since it is directly related to the social threat posed by criminal groups and to the supply of terrorist groups.
Over the past 5 years Greek Police has increased more than 500% the number of hand grenades been confiscated compared to a previous period. AK-47, Tokarev, Makarov and Zastava semi-automatic pistols, as well as, RPG's and plastic explosives are routinely found in the hands of criminal groups that are often of mixed Greek-Balkan composition.
In 2012 the authorities confiscated 194 automatic rifles, in 2011 172, in 2010 200, in 2009 110 and in 2008 165. Regarding pistols, in 2012 there were 512 confiscations, in 2011 549, in 2010 565, in 2009 538 and in 2008 501. The number of revolvers were 138, 126,159,124,134 for the respective years.
In hand grenades a noticeable increase is recorded. From 166 units in 2009 there were 817 in 2012. Moreover in 2008 174 kilos of explosives were confiscated versus, 1653 kilos in 2009, 67,630 kilos in 2010, 3,675 in 2011 and 100 Kg in 2012.
Despite the above, it is assessed than less than 5% of weaponry and explosives imported annually mostly from Albania, Kosovo, FYROM and Bulgaria is able to be detected by the authorities.
In the Athens metropolitan region with more than 5.5 million residents, there are estimated to be -at any given moment- more than 1000 weapons hideouts used by mafia networks to traffic their product. In each “cache” a few dozens of weapons are stashed so even if a Police operation results in a confiscation, the dealers can easily continue supplying the market by turning into their other locations.
Mobile arms caches in cars and vans, is also widely suspected.
The profits can be substantial, and the supply has dropped the prices to a rather low value. An AK-47 delivered with 60 bullets costs on average 1,500 Euros with each additional bullet to be priced for one Euro.
Between 2010 and 2011 around 40 organized gangs of robbers using AK-47 have been disbanded by the Greek Police, and almost in all cases they were composed by Albanians, or mixed groups along with Greeks, Bulgarians and Georgians.
Another 20 groups of such nature are believed to be at large. They target individual residences, banks, post offices and money transfer security vehicles. What is a more worrying trend is the nexus between these types of criminal action with local far Left terrorist organizations.
An Albanian citizen, operating as a contract killer between Greece, Albania and Italy with more than 30 "hits" in his record, named Julian Sinanaj, confessed that he placed bombs in Greece on behalf of terrorist groups under the guidance of a Greek political official of an unnamed party. Sinanaj collaborated with the Mehilli criminal group from Vlore-Albania where a number of contacts between Greeks and Albanians have flourished over the years either in weapons smuggling, illegal immigration schemes and cannabis & tobacco contraband.
Over the past few years there were 6-7,000 armed robberies, 90% of which involved Balkan or mixed groups. The analogy with a country such as USA where 350,000 armed robberies occurred, shows that Greece a country with 12 million residents has almost the same amount of robberies per capita, while the trend is high compared to that of most EU members.
Moreover, on an average month there are more than 10 incidents nationwide of fire exchange between criminal gangs and Police forces with occasional casualties from both sides. The existence of strong weaponry in the hands of mafias ensures they are at least on par with those of the legal forces.
The consolidation of these mixed groups has evolved in the crucial illicit sector of racketeering and loan sharking which is booming due to the economic dire straits the country is facing. In Athens more than 100 "heads” composed by Greeks, Albanians and ex-Soviet states, are controlling the proceedings of hundreds of businesses using 500 "strong men" as muscle to enforce their will.
Media reports from time to time have pin-pointed around 50 night clubs used as command centers, and situated in lucrative spots in the beach front of the capital and in the main commercial avenues, such as Syggrou and Piraeus avenues. Those in turn are related to extensive drug and sex trafficking rings that accumulate more than 500,000 Euros in cash daily, while illegal casinos -that are related to the networks mentioned- are pumping further amounts to the hands of the heads and their enforcers.
Contrary to popular belief the entire money trail does not need to be laundered, since there is a vibrant and extremely extensive "cash economy" in the country where the need for large amounts of cash, especially in the Athenian underworld, is being met by these proceedings. Lesser amounts are being directed to Balkan destinations.
What lies ahead?
As long as the real economy is decreasing to a pace of more than minus 7% annually (GDP drop + deflation) so will black (and also very much real) economy flourish undeterred by official regulations and with strong links to deteriorating legal business entities due to loan sharking schemes and buyout by mafias of controlling stakes of companies through the pretext of international funds and under the form of foreign investors. At the same time Albanian groups are becoming tightly integrated to the local underworld and in turn provide ample space for Greek criminals to either hide in Albania or expand their businesses there, especially in the vicinities of Vlore, Fieri and Sarande.
Points of interest
- More than 200 Greek citizens of young age have been arrested as “drug mules” mostly in international airports across the planet in the last 18 months. Almost all were recruited by local Greek-Balkan criminals and lured with the motive of fast cash with minimum effort. The rapidness and easiness the recruitment took place was astonishing. In most cases the youth was approached by night-life patrons in a specific operation to replenish the “drug mule population” with clean record citizens from a country that rarely produced such kind of trafficking services.
- Sex tourism: Greece and especially Athens are becoming steadily a tourist hot spot for sex tourism. More than 600 illegal sex premises operate in metropolitan Athens region with a daily cash flow estimated at more than 1 million Euros, excluding other levels of the illicit sex industry.
- Tobacco contraband in the county is estimated at 1 billion Euros annually and has resulted in the empowerment of the links between Greeks mafias and those of Albania, Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria ones. It is directly related to drug contraband using established infrastructure and human resources
- Oil smuggling runs at 1 billion Euros annually and encompasses in terms of deals geographically most of the Balkan states
- Illegal immigration in the county has resulted in around 500,000 undocumented foreign nationals (at any given moment) who raise funds continuously to support themselves and in dubious sectors. In the vast majority of the cases the revenues are being collected by Greek-Balkan groups. Street vendors in Athens, numbering more than 10,000 people raise daily 500,000 Euros minimum, which is directed 70% to Greek, Balkan and Chinese criminal groups. Likewise more amounts are raised when immigrants are trying to leave the country to other destinations or for meeting their daily needs for housing. The illegal immigration sector is gradually been consolidated into the hands of mafia groups, while an array of NGO's has been established that it is used as a "protective base" for covering up, abetting and protecting such activities.
- The total organized crime activities in Greece are able to generate at least 15 billion Euros annually in cash, thus becoming a sector of importance and on a regional level. Districts such as the Lazarati town in Albania live-off by massive cannabis trade exported to Greece and Italy, while Southern FYROM and Bulgaria profit to a great extent by providing "services & goods" to Greek-based networks.
- As it was noted above a large amount of the cash generated is not laundered because it is needed to support a cash-based parallel society. The amounts that do need to be "washed" and then come back to the local economy or destined to be invested to the international markets, follow a labyrinth-like procedure and end up in different jurisdictions such as Montenegro, Czech Republic, Moldavia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria, Hungary. It can be roughly assessed that more than 3 billion Euros annually are being directed in that manner. Once into the international legal system they are being leveraged through financial instruments and further support the liquidity of the banking system worldwide, in similar fashion like most of the way modern day organized crime functions.
Countermeasures
Until recently the Greek security system and most importantly the leading governmental structures, refused to accept the notion that Mafia-type criminal structures are indeed flourishing in the country, and that consequently these criminals are well-embedded into the local social and economic life and increasingly in collaboration with Balkan and Turkish similar criminal structures. The avalanche of security concerns though has forced into a rethinking and re-engineering of the system which develops into more coherent structures aiming into combating criminal structures by heavy handed approach, use of high-technology and by specialization amongst Police divisions.
Furthermore, Police collaboration between Balkan states is increasing steadily, while links and bonds between Mafias, legal businesses, and terrorism and front organizations are being scrutinized and exposed thereafter. It can be safely estimated that in 2014 and the coming period, major criminal cases of Pan - Balkan nature are going to be revealed, based on wrongdoings in Greece that will eventually shake up and upturn entire sectors of the “elite” stratum in several countries.
While presenting the data in Parliament during a meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees of Justice and Home Affairs of EU national parliaments to discuss migration policy, Ilkka Laitinen, Frontex Executive Manager, noted that the number of migrants illegally crossing the European Union's borders increased significantly in 2013.
Laitinen said there were about 700 million transits over the European Union's external borders in 2013. Compared to 2012, the number of illegal transits rose by 48 percent to 170,000.
He said that the Eastern Mediterranean route, which is of particular interest for Greece, is among the six routes that Frontex is focused on.
"The good news is that in 2013, we had 33 percent fewer cases but the number is still high, there were almost 25,000 cases," he said.
The focus, he added, is on the borders between Bulgaria and Turkey and the sea borders between Greece and Turkey, while Syrians are the largest nationality group for illegal migration.
(Press Project) - In 2009 the photographer Myrto Papadopoulos noticed something strange: just as the country’s financial crisis was sending most of the Greek economy into a tailspin, one sector appeared to be booming: the porn industry. Her effort to understand the phenomenon led to the Attendants, a cross-media project about the modern-day sex trade recently presented at the European Parliament.
In the years since 2009 Myrto has gained access to brothels and the so-called ‘studios’ (a modernized form of the traditional brothel), revealing through her film and photography the dark-curtained rooms and smoke-filled bars that provide a backdrop to the nightly purchase of women-by-the-hour in Athens. Her portraits of sex workers are both intimate and heartbreaking; images from a world where every fantasy is edged by seediness, brutality and the threat of violence.
But why in times of crisis is the sex industry booming? Surely if people have less money overall wouldn’t they have less to spend on prostitutes and porn films? Perhaps, but that is only half of the story. The fact is that the crisis has also made it a lot easier for traffickers to meet European demand - both legal and not - for the services of sex-workers.
“We are facing a major social, political, financial crisis at the moment, and what we see is increased vulnerability and social exclusion. This is exactly when we expect the numbers to go up of people being exploited and trafficked.”
That is according to Myria Vassiliadou, the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, speaking at the recent presentation of The Attendants project.
Prostitution and Sex Trafficking
The statement cuts to the core of why projects like The Attendant’s are relevant not just with regards to the world of prostitution, but to the wider humanitarian crime that is people trafficking. Because the fact is that the sex trade is by far the single greatest driver of the illegal trafficking and exploitation of people. According to the most recent data from Eurostat, 62% of all those who are trafficked in the European Union are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. and it is a trade that, despite what is commonly believed, primarily has European victims. 61% of the estimated victims of trafficking in Europe are EU citizens, primarily from Eastern European countries.
The profits from this modern day slavery are huge - roughly estimated to be 2.5 billion euros per year. It is also highly gender specific: 96% of all victims of sex-related trafficking are women or young girls.
Clearly any attempts to address people trafficking without examining the role of the sex trade are doomed to fail. Yet this is also where the issues get thorny.
While people trafficking is obviously a serious crime throughout the Union, prostitution is legal in a number of member-states, including Greece. As such, while the European Commission has a direct responsibility to act against trafficking, it is up to each member state to determine how it will handle prostitution with the issue largely out of the competency of the Commission.
In short, while the European Commission is tasked with reducing human trafficking, it can only indirectly tackle the main source of cash driving the trade. Still, that has not stopped it from trying, and today there is ever increasing pressure to target the millions of clients who visit Europe’s brothels and prostitutes every night.
“For every woman that is trafficked for sex, there is a trafficker - but there is also a client,” Myria Vassiliadou said. “So for each little girl that is exploited in prostitution and pornography, there is somebody out there who is asking for that service in Europe today. So we can not focus on the victims without addressing demand.”
Recently In a bid to crack down on human trafficking, the European Commission issued the Anti-Trafficking Directive which member states were obliged to transpose to national laws by April of 2013. The Directive focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims and obliges member-states to take ‘concrete measures’ to reduce demand.
An example of such ‘concrete measures’ include efforts to recruit private companies in the fight against trafficking such as those announced by Heracles Moskoff, the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “During the Greek Presidency we intend to launch a European business coalition against trafficking ...we want to provide a labelling system, something like an ISO, that will give the opportunity to businesses to work together to make sure their supply chains are free from exploitation.” It is hoped that businesses such as hotel chains, for example, could be accredited with having systems in place to ensure that their services are not used for the purposes of the illegal sex trade.
The Nordic vs the German Model
Of course, many campaigners would like Europe to go a lot farther than that, effectively banning prostitution throughout the Union in line with the so called ‘Swedish model’ where it is the clients purchasing sex, as opposed to those selling it, that face prosecution. Such a law was implemented in Sweden in 1999 and is credited with achieving significant reductions in prostitution rates.
Proponents of the Swedish model point to its relative success compared to the ‘German model’ implemented around the same time. In 2001 the Greens and Social Democrats passed a law the intention of which was to remove the stigma and isolation faced by prostitutes by regulating the trade and providing them with access to state benefits. More than a decade on the result has been a ballooning of the sex industry in Germany (referred to as a 'giant Teutonic brothel’ by the Economist) with sex tourism on the rise. It is estimated that Germany now has 400,000 prostitutes catering to 1 million men a day. Meanwhile, according to the newspaper, in a mockery of the original law the prostitutes actually claiming welfare benefits number exactly 44.
To people like UK MEP Mary Honeyball, the German experience proves that prostitution is fundamentally a violation of human rights and a form of violence against women. Ms Honeyball is the rapporteur for legislation recently passed by the Women’s Rights Committee and due to be voted on by the full European Parliament in February which calls on all member states to tackle demand for prostitution by criminalising sex-buyers.
While the legislation is non-binding, Ms Honeyball hopes that it will be passed and this will send an important signal to the rest of Europe. She is not without opposition however - some of it coming from prostitutes themselves such as the International Prostitutes Collective who claim that the Swedish model would violate their right to choose sex-work as a legitimate profession.
Such groups make the case that sex work can be a healthy and even valuable service to society - for example for individuals that find it difficult to have their sexual needs met elsewhere due to mental or physical problems. Such a scenario is depicted in the Helen Hunt film the Sessions, based on the true story of a paraplegic who lost his virginity late in life thanks to the services of a sex worker.
These stories clearly complicate the case for outright bans on prostitution in theory. Yet in practice they also amount to a tiny proportion of the modern day sex trade. For people like Myrto, who have chosen to chronicle the industry firsthand, it is far from the reality that they see. “Without exception all of the women I have met have ended up working in the sex-trade either by force or through very difficult circumstances. Many resort drugs to cope and suffer effectively from post-traumatic stress disorder.” she says.
Myrto highlights the loss of identity she believes is inextricably linked to the women’s work in the sex trade. “Prostitutes never give you their real names,” she says. “Why? It is because they are always playing roles. These women have effectively lost their true identities. Society only ever sees them as prostitutes. What they need is actually a form of rehabilitation.”
The goal of the Attendants programme is to provide some measure of that re-integration working with sex-workers in a safe-house currently being set up in a red-light district in Athens by the Salvation Army. Through art therapy and other specialist-led workshops the women will be encouraged to contribute to a mobile exhibition that will travel through Greece telling their stories and shedding light on the murky word of the sex industry.
Allowing them to reclaim control of who they are and how they can fit into a society that as often abuses them as it blames them for their abuse.
Because even if prostitution is not considered a crime, it certainly creates an awful lot of victims.
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