SMUGGLING IN GREECE

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26606, 17 December 1951, Page 3

SMUGGLING IN GREECE

SUCCESSFUL RAIDS BY POLICE ATHENS. Athens police and Customs authorities sometimes by luck but more often by hard work and vigilance, have uncovered gang after gang of smugglers during the last two years. They were caught smuggling in or illegally exporting foreign currency, gold sovereigns, cigarettes, nylon stockings, and Swiss and Italian watches. One famous case in which luck played into the hands of the authorities was that of the forced landing of an aircraft laden with gold sovereigns ® the island of Cefalonia in 1949. Imports of watches into Greece is strictly limited by the Greek Government to save hard currency for more needs, such as foodstuffs or building materials. , The exact number of watches to be bnported in each fiscal year is therefore fixed and a high import duty levied. But it is estimated that at three times the established quota « watches have been smuggled into me country. Watchdealers’ shops are springing like mushrooms in Athens. Three Italian members of a gang with ramifications in Italy and Switzerland were arrested recently on the charge of having smuggled into the country sotne 30.000 watches. In the latter *®*t of October, a non-commissioned officer belonging to the American Muitary Mission to Greece was caught tednanded with the goods in a double bottomed suitcase. At the end of the month, another Sang was discovered, using as its hiding place the macabre premises of the mortuary of the Athens Central Cemetery. According to the police stateinent, the leader of the gang is again an Italian, an officer of the harbour niS 6 Genoa. The Greek police had received information, through secret channels, that Giustiniani, who arrived at Piraeus via the island of Corfu, had smuggled in a considerable number of Swissmade watches. Giustiniani however, nher his arrival in Greece, was wary because of the recent arrests. An expert on the methods of pursuit of smugglers, he avoided making any suspect move to contact watch dealers or receivers of smuggled goods. rhe Athens police authorities decided therefore to use an agent proV’cateur. Giustiniani succumbed co the ®ecoy and admitted that he had “pnggied in 250 Swiss-made watches. L rom that moment, he was continuously shadowed by plain clothes Pbuce and his most ingenious hiding discovered. Through the agency of a Greek, acjoniplice, Giustiniani “had concealed in me mortuary and in various tombs and monuments in the Jewish section of Athens Central Cemetery, gold J“ted Swiss-made watches to a total of some £35,000. He was arrested ■rule in the act of transferring from me mortuary to the house of his Ireek accomplice, a guardian of the cemea case of 95 gold plated watches. JTie question now being asked is wnether this recent wave of arrests put an end to the watch smugbusiness in Greece. This would to be doubtful since the penalprovided by the Greek penal law smuggling offences are lenient, about a year in prison often re-S-ced to a minimum of months j r °ugh reprieves, and a fine which tifltothing compared to their immense F°fits, smugglers are soon free again 10 continue their trade. _____