The first homicide was committed on January 19, 2020, in a tavern in the Vari region, when four assailants entered a restaurant and fatally shot two foreigners from Montenegro while they were having lunch with their families, also slightly injuring the wife of one of the victims. 24 shell casings and 1 cartridge from 4 different weapons were collected from the spot.
The second homicide took place on July 23, 2020, when two foreigners from Montenegro and Serbia were found dead, with multiple gunshot wounds, in a car in an area of Corfu. During the autopsy, 32 shell casings, 7 fireballs and 2 metal fragments were collected.
The four victims were being prosecuted internationally under Red Notices – as the case may be – for forming a criminal organization and premeditated murder and were leading members of associated criminal organizations active in drug trafficking worldwide.
According to the director of the Attica Security Directorate, Major General Fotis Duitsi, the murders took place in the context of a war that broke out in a Balkan criminal organization after the loss of 200 kilograms of cocaine in 2014 in Spain.
In particular, as emphasized in the presentation of the case, the criminal organization “broke” into two new ones, which were now rivals. This led the four victims to flee to Greece in order to protect themselves from the rival organization, while they resided, using fake identity details, in areas of Attica, at least since 2019.
The organization hostile to the victims joined forces with two of the most powerful organizations in the Balkans, gradually sending people to our country in order to locate the victims and carry out the murders.
ELAS: They had executed 60 people across Europe
Characteristic of the great importance of the case is that the war between the two organizations has led to the commission of at least 60 murders throughout Europe, while for its investigation, at the initiative of Greece, a joint investigation team was created with Serbian authorities and a Europol team , codenamed ‘Ithaca’.
In total, within the framework of the International Police Cooperation, 39 members of the organization were identified, of which 7 were arrested in Serbia and 2 in Spain, while 17 members are incarcerated in various prisons in Europe, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey.
In particular, 8 members of the organizations were identified as moral perpetrators of the murders committed in Greece, 8 members as natural perpetrators, namely 4 in each homicide case and 23 members as their accomplices.
From the investigations in Greece, the arrest of a 44-year-old Albanian was achieved, who contributed to the safekeeping and transportation of the weapons used in the murders, as well as to the movement of members of the organization from Sivota to Halkidiki, where they lived until they fled abroad. The 44-year-old was located and arrested on Tuesday evening (27/2) in an area of Athens, while a pistol, magazines and 40 cartridges were found in his home.
The case file was submitted to the competent prosecuting authority, while the arrested person was referred to an investigator. Investigations to identify and arrest the remaining members of the organization are ongoing.
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