Greek police raided the Athens offices of the Israeli company behind the Predator spyware on Tuesday, local media reported, the latest turn of events in a months-long wiretapping affair that has rocked Greece over the past several months.
The offices of Intellexa, the Israeli-owned spyware company, and five other firms were raided by police in the Greek capital, Kathimerini reported on Tuesday. The raids also targeted the company executives’ homes.
Greece is in the midst of a massive political scandal over revelations involving the Predator spyware, sparked earlier this year when a prominent investigative journalist revealed his phone had been tapped with the software, which was later also found on the personal phone of one of the country’s leading opposition parties.
A cross-continental investigation – in which Haaretz participated – uncovered a network of firms connected to Tal Dilian, ex-commander of a top secret Israeli intel unit, who has bought up an array of sophisticated surveillance technology and established an EU foothold in Greece and Cyprus. It also revealed that a Jet linked to Dilian brought advanced spy tech from the EU to a notorious Sudanese militia.
On Sunday, Greek newspaper Documento released a dossier revealing that dozens of acting ministers, military leaders, businessmen and media figures were also under surveillance.
Back in August, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted that the country’s intelligence agency was spying on opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, emphasizing that it was legal, but did not say if it used the Predator spyware, created by the Israeli-owned firm Intellexa and its subsidiary CYTROX. The latter is registered in North Macedonia and operates from Greece. Intellexa is owned by the former head of a secret Israeli intel unit known as Unit 81. He has operated from Cyprus and Greece. Unlike NSO, Intellexa and its activities are not overseen by Israeli authorities.
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In October, the first lawsuit against Intellexa was filed in Greece demanding a criminal investigation into the company, which is owned by the Israeli national and former intelligence commander, Tal Dilian.
This is the first suit linked to the scandal, requiring prosecutors to investigate the case and decide if an indictment should be brought forward.
Thanasis Koukakis, an investigative journalist, filed the suit with prosecutors in Athens accusing Intellexa and its personnel of a string of criminal offenses, including breaches of privacy and communications laws.
Greece is in the midst of a massive political scandal over revelations involving the spyware after it was revealed last April that Koukakis, who works for CNN Greece, and also contributed to the Financial Times and CNBC, and was covering one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals, was hacked with the spyware.
It was the first case of a European national being targeted with the Predator spyware created by the Israeli-owned firm Cytrox, which is owned by Intellexa. A few months later, an investigation by the EU Parliament also found the phone of the leader of the socialist opposition PASOK party Nikos Androulakis had been targeted with the spyware.
