A strange case, as EuroPost described it, has been taken up by the Rhodes Police, as a German tourist was arrested on espionage charges after so-called spy equipment was found in his car.
He denied being a spy and said that he was a radio worker.
In a period of major national issues with Turkey, and in the midst of vigilance, a German tourist was arrested in Rhodes for violating Law 4070/12: "regulation of electronic communications, transport, public works and other provisions."
Specifically, the 51-year-old German national was arrested at 10:30 PM on August 9, 2020. The police of the Rhodes Security Sub-Directorate brought the accused from Tholos, who had rented and was driving a Suzuki vehicle.
After searching his belongings, police found a CG3000 antenna with two bundles of cables connected to it, a white antenna, a dc verteiler electronic device and a BENQ JOYBOOK S73 SERIES laptop without a license for use from Greek authorities, which were powered and operated by the car battery.
He himself, apologizing yesterday before the court, testified that he arrived on the island on Friday alone, rented a car, slept at Tholos and that was going to return home yesterday morning.
He also stated that he has a legal amateur radio license and that because he has no stations in Rhodes, he came with his radio and equipment and talked about his two days in Rhodes with other radio amateurs in a network of 250 people, mainly from Germany and on frequencies legally licensed for him for this purpose.
The court wondered what kind of vacation this was, but considered that there was not enough evidence for the nature of the offense.
Rhodes is one of the island's claimed by Turkey and is only some tens of kilometres from the Turkish mainland. Because of this, security is very firm on the island.