Police in northern Greece were yesterday seeking at least four people suspected of involvement in the mysterious kidnapping of a livestock breeder on the island of Thasos early on Thursday.

Athanassios Makedos, 26, was abducted at gunpoint by two men from his sheepfold at Panagouda, near Limenaria on the northern Aegean island, and bundled into a car, according to his two assistants who were with the farmer at the time of the kidnapping and notified the police.

A short time afterward, Makedos’s family received a 500,000-euro ransom demand over the phone.

Police launched an extensive search on Thasos, while a coast guard boat was dispatched to patrol the seas around the island to catch the kidnappers should they make for the mainland.

But early the same afternoon, Makedos turned up slightly battered but in good health at Limenaria and confirmed the abduction story. The farmer told police he had managed to escape his kidnappers after knocking out the gang member who had been posted to guard him.