The Bulgarian owner of the bar in Halkidiki and three other people who are being investigated in connection with the beating and shooting at the establishment, in which Bulgarians were involved, were released, the Greek public television ERT reported, quoted by the BNR.
Four others remain in custody and are being investigated for attempted murder. The Greek police do not consider the serious incident to be accidental, the television reported as the leading news.
According to the media, the delay in the order of the group of 7-10 Bulgarians who started the incident was only the trivial reason for the pushing and shoving, the subsequent clashes with the staff and finally the brutal beating of the Bulgarian owner of the company.
At that moment, three armed security guards of the establishment were called and arrived on the scene. They clashed with the group that caused the incident and shot 5-6 times inside the bar, seriously wounding one of the people who started the fight in the chest, one superficially in the hand and immediately fled.
The Greek public television ERT also reports that it is now certain that at least two of the three security guards of the establishment who fled and are being sought are Greek citizens, but of Bulgarian origin. They have come under the attention of Greek authorities in the past for extortion and racketeering of nightclubs for security in return for payment. One was arrested in 2021 for shooting outside a nightclub in Thessaloniki, and the other was even a member of the now banned pro-fascist Greek party "Golden Dawn".
As for the actual reasons for the incident, ERT reports that Greek authorities have established that the owner of the company that owns the bar is actually a mafia man in Bulgaria, with whom the alleged Bulgarian drug trafficker who started the scandal was in competition and wanted to cause an incident to harm the business of the bar in the Hanioti area of Halkidiki, which took place shortly before midnight on Friday into Saturday.