Authorities have filed criminal charges against three livestock farmers from Vorizia, Crete, accused of a years-long campaign of land seizure, extortion, and violent intimidation against neighboring property owners.
The case, compiled by Crete’s Organized Crime Unit and dated March 6, 2026, follows complaints dating to 2022, when 107 residents formally petitioned the then-minister of citizen protection. Investigators say damages exceed €200,000
The farmers, who are related to one another, allegedly drove their herds onto privately owned olive groves, destroying crops and threatening landowners who resisted. In one documented case, approximately 400 olive trees were cut using electric shears.
A victim’s car was also set on fire. Nine additional accomplices have been named in the case file. Investigators also found that the three farmers and close relatives collected hundreds of thousands of euros in agricultural subsidies between 2021 and 2025 for land and grazing areas they did not own.
Police attributed the five-year delay in prosecution partly to suspects operating in difficult-to-monitor terrain. The investigation was formally ordered in April 2025 by prosecutor Dimitris Gkyzis, who oversees the Organized Crime Division.
