Chrysochoidis on DAOE: "Model of state functioning" – Investigation into police involvement
The Public Protection Minister stated that any involvement of state officials in criminal networks will be investigated. He warned of the danger of tragedy from Kasidiaris gatherings.
Chrysochoidis: DAOE dismantles criminal networks – "All those who served them will be exposed"
Public Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis stated that every aspect of state officials' involvement in criminal networks will be investigated, referring at the same time to the functioning of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DAOE). According to Dikastiko.gr, the minister spoke on the radio station "Parapolitika 90.2", covering a wide range of topics: from police corruption and copper theft rings to gatherings of supporters of Ilias Kasidiaris.
DAOE as a "strategic choice"
Chrysochoidis characterised the establishment of DAOE as a personal vision of many years. "The state was disorganised and when something is disorganised it cannot confront organised crime," he said, noting that the service operates twenty-four hours a day, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and possesses weaponry and capabilities to penetrate criminal organisations. "This is a service that truly constitutes a model of state functioning, which is why you see all these tremendous successes," he said characteristically.
Alongside DAOE, the minister referred to the Internal Affairs Service, which he described as a mechanism for combating corruption within the police.
Police involvement: "All will be exposed"
When asked about the participation of police officers in criminal networks, Chrysochoidis was categorical: "Every aspect of this criminal network will be investigated, so that all those who within the state mechanism provided various kinds of services to it will be exposed." He did not provide further details about the number of those involved or about specific cases under investigation.
Copper theft rings
Regarding copper theft networks, the minister mentioned that the police have been dealing with the issue for three years. "No one should think it is so easy to find a path for copper," he stressed, adding that special police teams have been established to dismantle the related rings. "I am of the opinion that every crime should reach the end and those who commit it should be punished," he stated.
Accused in the Plaka explosion case
Regarding those accused in the case of an explosion in a building in Plaka, Chrysochoidis expressed the view that the perpetrators were drug-dependent users who committed offences to secure their dose. "We need to build facilities to house all these people who are sick," he said, adding however that they should be treated "both as patients, but at the same time also as criminals."
Danger of "tragedy" from Kasidiaris gatherings
The minister placed particular emphasis on gatherings of supporters of recently released Ilias Kasidiaris and the counter-gatherings that follow them. "I believe that at some point it could end in tragedy," he stated, calling for immediate measures to be taken that would give the police the ability to prohibit such events. "This must stop very urgently," he added.
Firebomb attack on Pleuris' office
Regarding the Molotov cocktail attack on the political office of Migration Minister Dimitris Pleuris, Chrysochoidis announced that the perpetrators "will be arrested and brought to justice." He characterised the matter not simply as an issue of office security, but as the "dismantling of the remaining remnants of an old reality, which has caused the country and democracy enormous suffering." "Some children do not really understand what they are doing and end up committing murder. They become murderers," he said characteristically.
Source: Dikastiko.gr