Greek police bust criminal gang operating on Athens university campus; drug dealing, and robberies charges laid

Greek police have arrested 32 individuals from three different criminal gangs during a raid at the National Polytechnic University's Zografou campus on Tuesday and charged them with a series of crimes including drug dealings, theft and robberies.

The arrests are linked to an incident involving a 30-year-old Albanian shot during on Tuesday who  police said was on his way back from the Zografou police station, where he had gone before the operation because a member of his family had been arrested.

As he returned to the campus, he saw a 35-year-old policewoman departing from the scene because she was feeling unwell and attacked her with a screwdriver, inflicting injuries. The policewoman then took out her service revolver and shot him.

Some of those arrested were living illegally in dormitories, which they used as their base of operations. Charges include forming a criminal organization, robberies and theft, drug dealing, dangerous bodily harm, resistance to authority, insubordination, and violation of the law on guns.

According to police, the gangs not only controlled the entrance into the hall of residence but had also threatened one student with a weapon and committed a number of thefts from students.

Nine suspects lived permanently on the premises, while another 12 stayed there occasionally, with the gangs operating there since 2019.

Two of the suspects under arrest are believed to belong to a gang that carried out robberies and sexually assaulted women in the southern suburbs in 2011.

The police said that their investigation is continuing to uncover the full range of the suspects' criminal activities and a search has been launched for the other members of the gangs, while those under arrest will be taken before a public prosecutor.