Mafia gang busted in Crete: 16 arrests

On Crete ΕΛ.ΑΣ. carried out a major operation against a criminal organization: 16 people detainedin total appear in the case 76 participants.

Three families found themselves at the center of a criminal investigation in Crete. Since the morning, the police have been conducting a large-scale operation in different areas of the island, and the first results already look impressive: 16 arrestsdozens of defendants, drugs, weapons, money and blocked bank accounts. A classic set for those who apparently considered Crete a personal business ground.

According to available information, a total of 76 people. The operation is carried out ΕΛ.ΑΣ.which has already seized shipments of drugs, including cocaine And hashishas well as weapons, ammunition and cash.

In addition, more than 50 bank accounts. The investigation also seized 12 carsone motorcycle, thousands of sheep ear tags and an automatic money counter. That last detail is especially telling: when guns, drugs, and a money counter are involved, talk of an “accidental misunderstanding” can usually be neatly filed away in the bad jokes folder.

Searches in Heraklion, Zonyana and Agios Nikolaos

Searches were carried out in dozens of houses in Heraklion, Zognane And Agios Nikolaos. According to Greek media, the investigation concerns not only drugs and weapons: a possible connection with the subsidy case has also come under scrutiny. OPECPEPE.

According to the same data, the investigation revealed the possible involvement of one livestock breeder in the scandal surrounding OPECPEPE. Recorded conversations are said to indicate that heborrowed animals from other ownersto cover the number of goals listed on his declarations and look legit in the upcoming audit.

If this version is confirmed, the case takes on another important layer: it could be not only a criminal group associated with drugs and weapons, but also a scheme for the possible abuse of agricultural subsidies, threads from which stretch to the very top. In other words, a familiar problem is resurfacing in Crete: when lax control meets organized impudence, public money quickly begins to flow to “their people.”

The investigation is ongoing. ΕΛ.ΑΣ. studies the connections of the detainees, financial flows, bank accounts and the possible role of each participant in the structure of the organization.

Crete, OPECPEPE and the political trace of Mitsotakis

Politically this detail is especially sensitive. Crete – not just another region on the map for the current government: the island is traditionally considered an important political territory of the family Mitsotakis. Therefore, any business where there are nearby Creteagricultural subsidies OPECPEPEfictitious animals, bank accounts and organized local networks, inevitably acquire not only criminal, but also political dimension.

The government can talk as much as it wants about “chronic pathologies” subsidy system, but after a series of cases related to OPECPEPEthis argument sounds less and less convincing. If schemes with declarations, animals, ear tags and payments have been operating on the island for years, then the main question is no longer only about who exactly filled out the false applications. The question is who allowed this system to live, grow and feed on European money.

Against this background, a link to OPECPEPE turns a criminal case into Crete V politically dangerous plot for the government. Agricultural subsidy scandals have long ceased to look like random mistakes by individual farmers. When dozens of defendants, accounts, fictitious animals and government payments appear in a case, we are talking about the system. And this system, to put it mildly, could not exist in a complete vacuum from local political authorities.

The investigation is ongoing. ΕΛ.ΑΣ. studies the connections of the detainees, financial flows, bank accounts and the possible role of each participant in the structure of the organization. But it is already obvious: this story goes beyond the usual crime chronicle. On Crete Several painful topics came together again – drugs, guns, local clans, rural subsidies and the question of who really controlled the system while it was making money.

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