They start early in the morning. They meet their colleagues, load the tools into the trucks and drive to the construction site. OUR tourist season starts, and the work is in a fever.

Monster trucks are unloading massive amounts of sand onto beachgoers, workers are hammering concrete bases for umbrellas into the ground, and a little further on others are setting up sun loungers or setting up cars in the new beach bars that spring up like mushrooms every year.

Team leaders know the work the crews are doing is illegal, but they don’t seem to care. Even imposing a fine leaves them coldly indifferent, since the money they are going to collect from tourists who have already begun to arrive is much more.

This is the picture on most of the country’s tourist islands these days. On the eve of summer, these territories turn into construction sites and become a godsend in the hands of businessmen who, for the sake of profit, do not hesitate to modify natural beauty and carry out scandalous environmental interventions.

“Before, they also felt some guilt and started work late at night so as not to be noticed. Now they don’t even care. In the morning they go about their business, despite the fact that they know that they are breaking the law and that there is a risk of being arrested and fined.” With this “K” statement, the head of EL.AS conveys the mentality of delinquents, which can be expressed by the phrase “follow the money, what is the law.”

At the same time, the same source reveals how there are companies against which more than one case has been opened in such cases, however, their owners do not stop and continue their illegal work. “Some people don’t seem to care about anything,” he says characteristically.

A flurry of arrests in the Cyclades and Dodecanese

The situation prevailing on the islands is also confirmed by the constant arrests that are made every day for illegal work.

Undoubtedly, the priority in such cases is Mykonos, where, since the beginning of April until Wednesday (3/5) yesterday, more than 25 arrests have been made.

As for the interventions made, the on-site inspection carried out on April 4 at Psarou by a group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is indicative and indicative.

Among other things, the inspectors found that a new two-story building was under construction next to the beach, as well as an illegal one-story building with a toilet, which was located less than 100 meters from the sea. They also found that the vigilantes placed two containers, as well as three 2.2-meter-high tanks, one breath away from the wave.

22 arrests in one three days

In addition to Mykonos, other tourist islands also fell into the “target” of the authorities. The fact is that in just three days (April 29 – May 1, 2023) EL.AS executives. 22 people were arrested for unauthorized construction. Arrests were made in Mykonos, Rhodes, Milos and Folegandros, and separate criminal cases were opened against those responsible for illegal construction work and hiring illegal foreigners.

In particular, on Mykonossix people were arrested at noon on Monday (1/5) because they were found to be performing oil painting work on arbitrary buildings in the hotel industry.

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IN Rose, a Greek and a foreigner were arrested on April 29, as they were found to be transporting and stacking building materials on an arbitrary wooden platform in the coastal area, at the same time it was found that a wooden bridge was being built in the coastal area. the same area. Two other people were also arrested because they operated a medical supply store in the aforementioned area that illegally occupied parts of the general coastal area, forest and archaeological area.

IN AppleOn April 29, eight people were detained who were engaged in unauthorized construction work in an already existing underground building.

IN FolegandrosOn April 30, four people were detained for doing construction work in a building under construction without a permit.

Commenting on dozens of recent arrests, representatives of EL.AS. They told K that this was due to an increase in patrols on the islands, and an order was given to immediately investigate any complaints of illegal construction work.