Closed-circuit television

Albanian police have recently dismantled some 451 illegally erected CCTV cameras, which experts see as a worrying sign of the power of organised crime structures.

The spread of illegal surveillance cameras placed in cities all over Albania is causing concern about the vulnerability of personal data and about the strength of the criminal groups that allegedly put them up.

Experts warn of a concerning situation for personal data that might have been gathered, and about the criminal groups' strength.

Albanian police on Friday said they had found 47 new surveillance cameras erected illegally in the Durres region.

They said the cameras had been put up "to provide information for criminal purposes, as well as to monitor the movements of the police". Eight people are under investigation.

The Istanbul governor has ordered to move a CCTV camera pole placed in front of the Galata Tower to another location following complaints from tourists as it stands as an obstacle for people trying to take their photos with the 14th-century structure.

The family of former socialist minister and anti-junta activist Sifis Valyrakis who was found dead at sea on Sunday night has filed a lawsuit with the prosecutor of Halkida, Evia.

It is a "matter of time" to identify and arrest the two passengers who viciously attacked a metro station manager on Wednesday after he asked them to put on their mask, police sources said on Thursday.

According to the sources, their faces have been recorded clearly in the metro's CCTV cameras and officers are now focusing their investigation in the area of West Attica.

The Athens Traffic Police said on Monday that a "smart" traffic light system equipped with surveillance cameras to monitor pedestrians and motorists will soon be piloted in the Greek capital.

The exact location where the system will be installed was not revealed. The results of the pilot program will be evaluated in order to expand the measure throughout Attica.

Robbers broke into a doctor's practice in the western city of Preveza late Wednesday and removed a safe with more than 200,000 euros, police sources said Thursday.

The attackers entered from the main entrance and fled, the sources said, adding that authorities are checking CCTV footage for clues over the identify of the suspects.

Authorities were investigating on Tuesday a shooting incident at a parking lot in Athens' western Haidari district shortly after midnight.

According to private television channel Skai, police believe two groups of unknown individuals started shooting at each other at the corner of Iera Odos and Kanari Streets.

Three masked individuals broke into the house of Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos in Istanbul on Saturday evening, according to a report in a newspaer of the Greek diaspora.

Vartholomeos was attending a social gathering and the housekeeper was the only person in the premises, Anatoli reported.