The body of a taxi driver was discovered Friday night in a remote area in Kastoria in north-western Greece. The 52-year-old man was shot twice with a 45mm fire arm, once in the temple and once in the back. His body was discovered 40-50 meters away from his vehicle. The incident initially alarmed the police as a big investigation is underway in the Greek capital Athens, after two taxi drivers were shot by an unknown perpetrator, police and media call “serial killer.” However. it turns out that a policeman serving in Kastoria Crime Combat is responsible for the death of the father of two.
Local police launched a big operation to catch the shooter, the case was cleared within hours after authorities evaluated footage from security cameras in the area.
Responsible for the death of the taxi driver is reportedly a 30-year-old policeman who also participated in the operation. Security cameras from a kiosk showed the policeman getting on the taxi at the time police estimated the driver went missing. The policeman was arrested.
The victim’s family went on alert after the taxi drive did not answer phone calls after 5:30 pm. His body was found short before 9 pm.
According to Greek media, the policeman confessed the murder, while he first claimed his motive was ‘robbery’. Later he claimed that he and the victim had ‘personal differences.’ The motive allegedly remains a mystery.
The policeman was serving in the Police Department to Crime Prevention & Combat Crime in Kastoria, northern Greece. He was transferred there from Athens, after he was involved in gun shooting in the middle of the crowd in the touristic area of Monastiraki in downtown Athens in July 2014.
Two tourists were slightly injured during the gunshot exchange between fugitive terrorist Nikos Maziotis and Greek police in downtown Athens, near Monastiraki on 16. July 2014. Injured were the fugitive man who was also arrested, but also two tourists, an Australian and a German national. The Australian tourist, a young man 18 years old, was injured in the left foot and hospitalized after he received first aid on the spot.
According to Greek media, the policeman was transferred to service in Kastoria for ‘security reasons,’ as Maziotis -currently in prison- is member of the urban guerilla Revolutionary Struggle.
Ballistic investigation showed that the policeman used the same gun he had used against Maziotis in order to kill the taxi driver.
The shooting of taxi drivers in Kifissia, Athens is reportedly not connected to the Kastoria case.
Typical Greek state incompetence. The guy was involved in dangerous violence in public, so instead of sending him for psychiatric evaluation and either dismissal or a course of training and careful monitoring, they just send him to another part of Greece. It was the same story with the police lunatic who murdered the kid in Exarchia. Just no accountability, no controls, no training, no professionalism.