The National Intelligence Service and the Hellenic Police have been on red alert in recent days after the arrest of a Greek expatriate from Georgia who is accused of being recruited by Russian intelligence to send photos and videos of military installations in Alexandroupoli.

The spy thriller began to unfold when the NIS received information that revealed the activities of the 59-year-old who, as it turned out afterwards, is a permanent resident of the area and his official job is that of a painter.

The 59-year-old was arrested yesterday, Tuesday (4/29) with investigators now attempting to fully map his activities in order to establish what he has photographed and when.

As the authorities’ investigation revealed, the man had initially been approached by a member of a foreign-based (Eastern Europe) criminal group ring which is active in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and has been involved in murders. This criminal, therefore, asked him to “get a job” on behalf of the Russian service.

The 59-year-old, during his examination at the police station, claimed that the person who approached and recruited him had mentioned that he could give him money for his services. But he retorted that he was not doing it for money but for “Mama Russia”, as he said, as he had served in the Soviet army.

According to well-informed sources, the arrested man was allegedly filming and photographing sensitive military areas of the border region and the port of Alexandroupolis, where for at least two years military material has been transported, which in many cases ends up on the Ukrainian front.

Then, he sent the material via internet applications to another person who is in Lithuania, who holds a Greek passport, but h,e too was born in a country of the former Soviet Union. The same information was stressed to protothema.gr that the second man has also been arrested in Lithuania by the corresponding services there.