Four Turkish Mafia Members Arrested by Greek Police After Athens Suburb Shooting

2026-03-15 - 16:35

Greek police detained four Turkish nationals in connection with a violent daylight ambush near Athens connected to a Turkish mafia network. Credit: Maxim Reniţa / Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0 Greek Police have detained four Turkish men in connection with a targeted daylight shooting in the coastal town of Nea Makri, a suburb east of downtown Athens. Greek authorities apprehended the suspects on Sunday following a coordinated law enforcement operation. According to Greek media, officers from the organized crime unit detained the four individuals while conducting parallel investigations in the northern port city of Thessaloniki. One of the men brought into custody for questioning is believed to be one of the primary shooters who carried out the attack. Athens’ Marathonos Avenue ambush of the Turkish Mafia The arrests stem from a violent confrontation that occurred on Tuesday afternoon, March 3, along Marathonos Avenue in Athens. According to eyewitness accounts gathered by investigating officers, the incident began when three suspects entered a local supermarket and approached a fourth man, who is also reportedly a Turkish national. Following a brief but tense altercation inside the store, the targeted man left the premises and headed toward his parked vehicle. Police reports indicate that the three suspects then crossed the street and positioned themselves inside a mini-market. They waited there, actively monitoring their target for approximately 10 minutes. When the man finally entered his car and started the engine, the assailants approached the vehicle and fired at least seven shots at close range before fleeing the scene on foot. The would-be victim managed to drive away from the ambush, possibly escaping completely unscathed. Responding police units rushed to Marathonos Avenue, where they secured the perimeter and recovered seven spent bullet casings and one intact bullet from the street. Following area searches, the targeted vehicle was located abandoned in the nearby suburban district of Dionysos. The car was found riddled with bullet holes, though the occupants had vanished by the time authorities arrived. A wider conflict This latest shootout is part of a troubling escalation of violence in Greece. Over the past few years, authorities have recorded several gangland-style assassinations and public shootouts directly attributed to rival Turkey-based criminal organizations operating within Greece. Law enforcement officials view the Nea Makri incident as another chapter in this ongoing illicit war, reminiscent of the September 2023 massacre in the nearby Artemida suburb, where six Turkish gang members were executed in a targeted hit.