Greek court sentences former serviceman in military fuel theft case

Greece’s Thessaloniki Court of Appeal has issued a major ruling in a case involving the illegal theft of 300,000 liters of petroleum products from a military fuel pipeline. The panel found a former non-commissioned officer who had worked in security guilty of plundering naval and military resources and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that four other civilians who operated as part of an organized criminal group were also sentenced to prison terms. Under the court’s ruling, two people identified as the main instigators received six-year sentences, while two other accomplices were sentenced to three and four years, respectively.

According to the investigation, the theft was carried out with the direct assistance of the former serviceman, who had been responsible for guarding the military’s strategic pipeline. He enabled members of the civilian criminal group to install an illegal connection to the pipeline in a military-controlled area and transport large quantities of fuel.

The network’s activities came to light by chance after a car driven by one of the group’s members overturned in a local canal. Officers who arrived at the scene found special pumps, equipment used to tap naval and military pipelines, and fuel tanks in the vehicle. The former serviceman fled the courtroom and is being sought.