THESSALONIKI, Greece, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Greek police said 53 people have been arrested for alleged involvement in extortion, loan-shark, fraud and money-laundering operations.
The arrests in a 24-hour span in northern Greece came as part of what police called a major operation to shut down four interconnected gangs that had amassed more than $56 million in illicit gains in at least a decade, Ekathimerini.com reported.
Police had been investigating the case for seven months and submitted to Thessaloniki prosecutors Wednesday 15,000 pages of evidence, including 3,500 transcripts of telephone conversations among suspects from police wiretaps.
The suspects, taken to the Thessaloniki First Instance Court under heavy security Wednesday night, include a senior financial crimes investigator, bank employees, businessmen, a police officer and two lawyers.
Greek police said the investigation began in April after the arrest of a 35-year-old Greek-Syrian man suspected of leading rival extortion and money-laundering operations in northern Greece.
"With its operation against these criminal organizations, the Greek police have shown that the fight against organized crime, which generates massive gains and comprises a loss to the state of significant revenues, is constant and indiscriminate," Greek Citizens Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis said in a statement.
