The construction of a new fence on northeastern Greece’s Evros land border with Turkey will be completed in eight months, according to Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, speaking in Parliament on Monday.

Concern is growing over a significant number of accidents, some of them fatal, involving all-terrain vehicles (ATV), or quad bikes, a popular mode of transport among tourists on the islands, amid lax enforcement of rules relating to their rental. 

Ahead of the scheduled reopening of Greek schools on September 7, the Greek Police’s cyber crimes division has launched an investigation into certain groups on Facebook that have been exhorting parents and children to defy authorities’ demands for the mandatory use of face masks by pupils to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Police on Monday raided a squat in Thessaloniki believed to have been used by its anarchist occupants to prepare attacks against police officers and political targets. 

Police officers raided a squat in central Thessaloniki on Monday morning known locally as Terra Incognita, according to police sources.

Prison authorities thwarted an escape attempt from a penitentiary on the Ionian island of Corfu by the man convicted of murdering prominent criminal lawyer Michalis Zafeiropoulos in October 2017.

Plans are afoot for the construction of a warehouse stocked with sanitary material that will serve needs across the European Union in a secret location in Attica. The initiative is part of the European Commission’s plan to create stocks of medical supplies and vaccines in the face of a new wave of coronavirus in the EU.

An Athens prosecutor is examining posts on social media networks and news sites claiming that the pandemic is essentially a conspiracy, urging people to refuse to accept fines and sanctions and to disobey restrictions to contain a further spread.

Amid concerns about a steady increase in coronavirus infections in the country, government officials on Monday signified their readiness to intensify restrictions. Meanwhile experts are concerned about a spike in new cases over the past two weeks, to 6.1 per 100,000 people from 4.2 per 100,000.

Greek authorities are moving forward with plans to extend a fence running along a section of the Greek-Turkish land border in Evros, Kathimerini understands.

 

Scores of firefighters on Thursday battled for a second day to contain a large blaze that broke out in the area of Kechries, near Corinth, on Wednesday, with the fire service saying the flames had been brought under partial control by late last night, though the damage was reportedly significant. 

The government is planning an overhaul of the country’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) foreseeing, among other things, the controversial transfer of one of its key departments to the Defense Ministry.

Greece remains the biggest market in the European Union for contraband cigarettes, according to a pan-European report made public last week following the discovery by Greek authorities of three illegal tobacco processing factories in May and June.

In the wake of claims pointing to corruption in the ranks of the previous leftist government, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday sought to cover two of his former ministers, Nikos Pappas and Dimitris Papangelopoulos, accusing the conservative government of “using mafia tactics.”

A 47-year-old man who has been accused of posing as a doctor and contributing to the death of at least three cancer patients, has admitted to claiming qualifications he did not possess but said he never encouraged patients to stop their conventional treatments.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) on Monday published the details and photographs of a 47-year-old man who stands accused of posing as a health specialist and possibly contributing to the death of three cancer patients, including two teenagers.

Authorities on Thursday imposed a new curfew on Echinos in Xanthi, northern Greece after dozens of coronavirus infections were traced in the small village in less than a week.

A 47-year-old man was arrested in Athens on Wednesday accused of posing a specialist doctor and deceiving at least 45 people over two years, resulting in the death of three cancer patients – two minors aged 14 and 16, and a 76-year-old man.

A 35-year-old woman accused of being behind an acid attack last month on a 34-year-old woman in Kallithea, southern Athens, was remanded in custody on Tuesday.

A network of active and retired police officers, along with lawyers and entrepreneurs are being investigated in connection with a criminal racket believed to have been providing protection to brothels, strip clubs and illegal gambling dens, Kathimerini understands.