The death of the 17-year-old Roma in Viotia on November 11, 2023, after a police chase, was followed by Roma youths rioting across the country. Every time some Roma are arrested for some criminal act, discussions and comments begin about the criminality of this sensitive social group.
Roma make up the vast majority of Greek citizens involved in criminal groups (71%)
Proto Thema looked at data on how many Roma are actually involved in criminal activities. Related, extremely interesting information is available in a report by the police about serious and organised crime in our country in 2021.
In the report, data confirms those who believe that the Roma make up the vast majority of Greeks involved in criminal groups (71%). This percentage becomes even higher (84%) in thefts and burglaries.
Another very interesting element is the composition of the criminal groups of foreigners, which are also confirmed here by those who write that they come mainly from Albania, former USSR countries (especially Georgia), Algeria and Pakistan.
Let's look at more evidence from this revealing report.
In 2021, 157 criminal groups were dismantled in our country, comprising 1,081 members.
Most of these groups (104) had as their main criminal activity thefts - break-ins, 30-wheeler thefts and 23 robberies. 65 % of these groups, a little more than 100, were "domestic" and 83% homogeneous.
The majority of the domestic groups, 71% of them (more than 70 in other words), consisted of Roma (in the police report, they are listed as ROMA).
A small number of these groups (16%) displayed multidimensional criminal activity, while a percentage of 10% was also involved in activities other than those mentioned at the beginning (drug trafficking, counterfeiting, etc.).
In 15% of the total, there was money laundering from criminal activity.
The members of the criminal groups came, in order of number, from the following countries: Greece, Albania, Georgia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Romania, Syria, Palestine, Bulgaria, Iraq, Kosovo, Morocco, Libya, Serbia, Bangladesh, Armenia, India, Iran, Kuwait, Turkey and Tunisia...
Thefts and burglaries: Roma, Albanians and Georgians
Even more interesting is the origin of the members of the criminal groups that carried out thefts and burglaries in 2021. Of the 104 thefts and burglaries, 63%, about 65, were committed by groups of Greek citizens, about 28 by groups of foreigners, and the remaining 11 by mixed criminal groups (Greeks and foreigners).
Among the Greek criminal groups that committed thefts and burglaries in 2021, those that are overwhelmingly made up of Roma (rate of 84%) hold a dominant position. Some 87/104 criminal groups that committed thefts and burglaries in 2021 were composed of Roma.
The police states in its relevant report: "These (Roma) groups are mainly semi-hierarchical, and their members have, for the most part, kinship (and/or friendship) relations with each other".
Of course, this is also clearly seen from the presentation of Roma who have committed criminal offences. Most of them have the same last name or other common elements.
Foreign criminal groups are dominated by those made up of Georgians (39%). Their main feature is that their members are exclusively Georgian.
Albanian criminal groups follow at 33%. These are either purely Albanian or "mixed", with criminals also coming from other countries.
Far away, in 3rd place, are Algerian criminal groups (8%). These are either pure or mixed. Finally, in 4th place, with a percentage of 6%, are the Pakistani criminal groups.
If we add the above figures, even with a dose of arbitrariness, as there are also mixed criminal groups, 86% of the thefts and burglaries committed by foreigners in our country are done by Georgians, Albanians, Algerians and Pakistanis.
The action of the criminal groups was against mainly local, as the largest percentage of them (82%) operated at the prefecture or district level and only 15% nationally.
Where and how thefts and break-ins take place
As is understandable, thefts and break-ins take place in homes, shops and public transport, while the figures of the police also concern vehicle thefts.
Finally, the targeting of bank ATMs by criminal groups continued in 2021. Six of them were dislocated. They broke into ATMs with the "PLOFKRAAK" method and used dynamite or special equipment, mainly in the morning hours.
The criminals enter the houses through unsecured balconies or windows, breaking down doors, pretending to be tax officials, elevator maintainers, fruit and carpet merchants, etc.
In the stores, criminals operate mainly at night - after midnight by cutting or punching the security rolls, even by breaking their windows, etc. On public transport and in crowded places, the members of the criminal groups took advantage of the overcrowding or even caused it, while very often they occupied their victims so that some of their accomplices could remove money, documents, etc.
How much are the "profits" from the criminal activity in Greece?
In graph 23, you see the estimated profits of criminal groups by criminal activity for the years 2018-2021. These exceed 15 million euros.
This is probably a much smaller amount than the real one. The audacity of the criminals is abysmal as many of them upload on social media photos and videos of the lavish life they lead with the money they stole, often using violence, from innocent citizens...
Of course, sometimes this overexposure leads the police to their arrest...
Epilogue
The police report on serious and organised crime in Greece in 2021 is a total of 114 pages and refers to the other forms of crime. You can find it online and the corresponding reports from previous years.
However, with today's article and some other earlier ones about the foreign prisoners in Greece and the criminality of foreigners in our country, we solve the questions of many readers.
Maybe some people will talk about racism, etc. However, we do not write personal opinions, but we quote official figures from the police, which, for reasons unknown to us, have not received the publicity they should...
READ MORE: Crime explosion in Greece – 55% of prisoners are migrants.
