The so-called "Cypriot FBI" will finally be called the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (DAOE), which was unofficially introduced to us with its great recent success with the arrest of three persons and the seizure of an amount over €400,000.
The information of "F" states that this will be the name of the Service that will be exclusively engaged in the fight against organized crime, according to the model of the corresponding service of the Greek Police and if everything goes smoothly it will be formed normally into a body next month.
For the building that will house the newly established directorate, the signatures are expected to fall soon, so that it can be acquired by the state and prepared to house the new service. This is an existing almost ready-made building on the Acropolis on a well-known avenue, which has already been inspected by competent state services for the necessary changes and installation of infrastructure, so that it can serve the needs that will arise.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Order and the minister himself, Kostas Fytiris, are working intensively on the establishment of the new Service and are initiating the procedures to house it as soon as possible.
The new Service will merge YKAN (Anti-Narcotics Service) and YDAP (Information Management and Analysis Service), while members from various services will also be seconded to assist in the work of the new directorate. The task force will come from YKAN, while in the offices there will be analysts, specialized staff in the financial evaluation of data, etc. Already, there is the mapping of organized crime and the sectors in which it operates and what will now be put into practice is the principle: Follow the course of money.
Recently, two cases of attempts to import large sums of money either through barricades or through an airport have come to light and both their origin and their final outcome are being investigated. Money laundering is one of the characteristics of organized crime, which is why each case is examined in cooperation with MOKAS to reveal the sources of the money and its routes.
Already, the new Service has left its mark with the investigation of the first serious case which, as announced by the Police, is part of the fight against organized crime with the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of thousands of euros. Her investigation began months ago, she was kept away from the public eye and finally the operation that yielded arrests took place.
The examination of this case continues, while the members of the new Service who have already been seconded to it, are working on other cases as well, looking for data from the Income Tax, the Source of Assets or from information gathered from major drug cases.
The establishment of the Service against Organized Crime was decided during the ministry of Marios Hartsiotis and was promoted quickly and decisively by Mr. Fytiris, since it had been established that organized crime was uncontrollable and had invaded every economic activity with protections, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc.
As "F" wrote, the first director of this directorate will be the current commander of the Anti-Drug Service, Christos Andreou.
