Report details corruption in security forces
Corruption cases involving public officials abound and are on the rise. Security officers at Piraeus Port arrested for trafficking in cocaine; border guards in the northeastern city of Orestiada involved in human trafficking; customs officials taking part in a contraband fuel scheme; a prison guard caught trying to smuggle hashish into Korydallos Prison.
Those are just a few of the cases investigated by the Greek police’s Internal Affairs Division in 2023 and mentioned in a confidential report submitted on April 29 to Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee. Kathimerini got an exclusive look at the report.
The report, the first after the first change in Internal Affairs leadership after several years, says the number of cases referred to the agency increased nearly 18% in 2023, to 910 from 772 the previous year. Police sources say this was because Internal Affairs, which often occupied itself with work having little to do with its mission, became more active.
Of the 1,457 persons investigated in 2023, 460 are police officers, 62 served in the coast guard, 30 in the fire service, 291 were career civil servants and 614 other civilians.
The most serious case involved the arrest, in December 2023, of two Piraeus Port security officers, who had access to the space where impounded cocaine was stored. They stole amounts of cocaine and trafficked them with the help of outside accomplices. The stolen cocaine, a total of 16 kilograms, had been replaced by tile glue, an analysis by the General Chemical State Laboratory found.
The number of security and other civil service personnel arrested while in the act of some illegal activity grew to 143 in 2023 from 51 in 2022.
In the case of the port officers and the border guards, extensive electronic surveillance methods were used. The latter case, where arrests took place in May 2023, is still under investigation.
Most of the arrested police officers were low-ranking personnel aged 31-40. Only 11% were high-ranking officers.
