An unknown group abducted shipping tycoon Pericles Panagopoulos from in front of his house in the Athenian sea suburb Kavouri. At 08:40 am the businessman was getting out of his house, in order to go to work with his driver in a Mercedes, when three people with masks blocked his way, broke the car windows and forced Panagopoulos and his driver to get out. A worker form a neighboring site saw the kidnapping and called the police right away. He is still in the Attika police testifying.

A little bit later the abductors left the driver with his hands tied in the near neighborhood Koropi and left East. Before leaving they said that Panagopoulos will not be hurt because they just need a ransom. Until this moment the criminals have not contacted his family, have not set an amount for the ransom, and the way they want to receive it. In spite of all the police believe that it is a criminal act and not terrorism. Together with the driver, the criminals left the Panadopoulos’ Mercedes, one truck, with which they blocked the road, and one more car with reinforcement. The truck and the second car did not have license plates, which probably means they were stolen.

74 year old Pericles Panagopoulos has a serious health problem and he has an upcoming surgery in the US. Last year he got out from the active business. He is famous as the tycoon in the Greek cruise excursions. At the end of the 80’s he successfully starts working with passenger sea transportation and during 1992 founds the Attica company. During 1999 he buys a second Sea transport company, which he renames to Blue Star Ferries. During 2008 he sold both companies to Marfin Investment Group for the record for the Greek reality amount of 286 million Euros.

This is the first abduction of a businessman in the Attika region. Last year a kidnap victim was the businessman from Thessaloniki Giorgios Milonas.