Aspropyrgos: 16 arrested for power theft

A large-scale police operation was carried out on the morning of Thursday, August 20, in settlements of Aspropyrgos, resulting in sixteen arrests. According to a report by “TA NEA”, citing a Hellenic Police announcement, all sixteen of those arrested are accused of electricity theft. During the checks, sixteen cases of power theft from homes were identified, while a HEDNO crew accompanying the police forces removed 2,380 metres of illegal connection cable. Case files were compiled against those arrested and submitted to the competent Prosecutor’s Office. All those arrested are presumed innocent until judged by the courts. Alongside the investigation into the power theft, officers also carried out traffic checks in the wider area, recording eighteen violations of the Road Traffic Code. No identifying details of any of the persons arrested were made public.

The eighteen Road Traffic Code violations concern driving without a licence, failure to wear a seatbelt, and lack of a valid roadworthiness certificate from a vehicle inspection centre (KTEO). Four vehicle registration permits and seven driving licences were confiscated. This confiscation is an administrative measure: it is imposed on the spot by the police officer for a set period and is independent of both the monetary fine and any criminal proceedings. As for the power theft, the compilation of a case file means that the case material — seizure reports, technical findings from the network operator and statements — is forwarded to the prosecutor’s office, which decides on its further course. Electricity theft is prosecuted criminally, while the network operator separately seeks, through civil means, the value of the energy consumed without being metered. The length of time the illegal connections had been operating has not been announced, nor has it been disclosed whether the sixteen homes were connected directly to the network or via bypass lines from neighbouring supplies.

The operation was organised by the Western Attica Police Directorate of the Attica General Police Directorate. Participants included the Western Attica Crime Suppression and Detection Sub-Directorate, the Attica Police Operations Directorate, forces of the OPKE and OPDI units, and the DIAS motorcycle unit, with assistance from the Attica Traffic Police Directorate and the use of an unmanned aircraft. Aspropyrgos lies in the Thriasio Plain, west of the Attica basin, and concentrates much of the region’s industrial and logistics activity, while also including settlements with long-standing infrastructure problems. The illegal connections put strain on the local low-voltage network and are linked to faults and power cuts. The area has recently been at the centre of other incidents, such as the fire that cut power to the suburban railway and the arrest of a 46-year-old for cannabis plants.

It has not been announced whether the sixteen people arrested were brought before the flagrante court or released with the case file forwarded to the prosecutor’s office, nor whether any of them face additional charges. Police gave no figures for the estimated value of the energy allegedly taken, nor for the period over which the illegal connections had been in place. HEDNO has not published a separate tally for this specific operation beyond the 2,380 metres of cable removed, nor has it been disclosed whether a legal reconnection process is planned for the households involved in the sixteen cases. It has also not been made known whether further operations will follow in the same area. Electricity theft cases are usually tried at first instance by the misdemeanours courts, with the timing of the trial depending on the court’s caseload.