Hundreds of pickpockets, drug dealers, offenders of various kinds, and even people carrying weapons illegally have been arrested by the men and women of the ELAS, who have been operating recently as part of a policing plan in the Mass Transit of Attica.

Metro, Electric Railway, Tram, Suburban Railway, and buses are now safer, as, according to data collected by the Ministry of Citizen Protection, in the first four months of the implementation of this policing plan, nine hundred arrests and more than 50,000 checks have been made.

The plan was implemented in mid-February with a focus on stations, stops, routes, and parts of the network where more incidents of wrongdoing are detected.

The operation involves 270 police officers, with the force stationed on public transport having been reinforced by 50 uniformed officers in recent days.

According to ministry and police officials, most of the arrests, 325 in number, resulted from the 16,700-plus checks that have been made on buses, and involve possession of drugs, weapons and illegal stay in the country.

Another 299 people have been arrested on the Metro, the ISAP, and the Tram, where most of the checks have been made, more than 21,900. Many arrests on urban fixed-route vehicles are related to robberies, according to the same sources.

In suburban transit, checks exceed 16,000 and have resulted in 276 arrests.

Sources with knowledge of the planning done by the Ministry of Citizen Protection stressed that the police attach particular importance to actions that touch so directly on the daily safety of citizens and that the operation will continue with increased intensity, especially given the increased presence of tourists on transport during the summer months.