Minors exploited by gang
A police raid on a convenience store revealed a 67-year-old homeless man locked in a windowless room beside stacks of illicit tobacco, exposing what investigators describe as a trafficking network exploiting minors and vulnerable adults.
The man slept in the cramped space and passed illegal cigarettes through a small opening in the wall to the cashier.
Most of the victims used in the way the man was were unaccompanied migrant minors from Pakistan – the youngest 11.
The case unfolded after a complaint reached the nonprofit Network for Children’s Rights about the exploitation of a Pakistani teenager. Police sources said he initially hesitated to speak and missed his first appointment. He later testified at the Justice Ministry’s “Child’s House” before a psychologist.
A second minor testified in late October, leading police to identify suspects. On December 3 and 4, officers arrested six members of the group, finding 11 victims – including four children aged 11 to 16 – and seizing 8,260 cigarette packs and 473 tobacco pouches without tax stamps.
According to police, two Pakistani ringleaders recruited minors from Pakistan or Turkey with false promises of well-paid work in Greece, then forced them into seven-days-a-week labor in convenience stores, withholding wages and, in some cases, using physical violence.
The group operated at least 11 stores across Attica using straw owners, employing at least 15 minors.
