Greek police raid Cretan village, detain suspects

8 November 2007 /REUTERS

Police raided a village in Crete's lawless mountains on Wednesday, arresting 11 people suspected of ambushing a police anti-drugs convoy this week.

Three officers were wounded, one of them seriously, in the ambush on the convoy two days ago, which followed an attempt by police to crack down on drug smuggling. "Nineteen people have been detained, 11 of whom have already been arrested. Police will remain in and around the village for the next 20 days," a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. The ambush, in which gang members perched on rocks above the road poured down fire onto 12 police cars, highlighted how much of Crete remains largely outside government control. And it angered many Cretans, who insist the island, among the country's most popular tourist destinations, was not as unruly as a handful of gang members make it out to be. Police and the state should find them and arrest them, 76-year-old Manolis Nikiforos, a resident of the village of Zoniana which is 30 km (19 miles) west of Cretan capital Heraklion, told Greek television,. are a peaceful village and cannot be held responsible for the actions of a small group of people.

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