The police dismantled a ring that convinced minors to remove jewelry from their relatives, which they then sold as pawn.
According to a statement by the Hellenic Police, police officers from the Rhodes Security Sub-Directorate investigated 26 cases of theft and filed a criminal case against a total of thirteen people aged 15 to 46.
The case file that was formed includes:
-Three Greek citizens (2 men and one woman) aged 19, 31 and 17 years old, as well as two male Albanian citizens aged 18 and 20 years old, who are accused of forming - participating in a criminal organization and committing aggravated thefts
-A 15-year-old Greek minor, who is accused of rape
-Five local men, aged 46, 37, 30, 27 and 27, who are accused of receiving proceeds of crime and, in some cases, of illegal possession of a weapon
-A 38-year-old Greek national and a 45-year-old Albanian national, who are accused of neglecting the supervision of minors.
In particular, in the context of investigating information that young people were approaching underage girls through social networking sites and persuading them to remove jewelry from their relatives, it was found that a year ago, the 19-year-old Albanian and the 18-year-old Greek national formed a criminal organization, which was gradually joined by the other three people aged 31, 20 and 17, mainly with the aim of removing jewelry from homes.
To achieve their goal, the above defendants planned their actions, had distinct roles and a specific methodology, as they either selected the homes of people they knew, or urged people they knew to remove jewelry from their relatives, which they then used as collateral, obtaining various amounts of money.
Furthermore, the examination of the young defendants revealed that during the period of their illegal activity they committed 20 thefts of clothing from commercial department stores in the city of Rhodes.
To dispose of the stolen jewelry, the perpetrators turned to two pawnshops and a private individual, who purchased them knowing that they were stolen products.
Targeted inspections were carried out at the pawnshops in question and parallel cases were filed for violations related to the pawning process, the keeping of books and invoices, as well as a case of immediate proceedings for illegal possession of a Tazer and a folding knife by two employees of one of the stores.
It is noted that the cases of thefts that were investigated had not been reported, while the benefit derived by the members of the criminal organization is estimated at approximately 12,000 euros and comes from the pawning of jewelry with an estimated value of over 100,000 euros.
The case file that was compiled will be submitted to the Rhodes Criminal Court prosecutor.
Source: directnews.gr
