Kidnappers free Greek shipping magnate

Kidnappers released an elderly and ill Greek shipping magnate early today, eight days after they snatched him at gunpoint in a seaside suburb of Athens.

Periklis Panagopoulos, 74, was found in the Aspropyrgos industrial area outside Athens, police said. His wife, Katerina Panagopoulou, told private Alter television that he was unharmed.

Police said the crew of a passing patrol car found him in a car park on a main highway nine miles south west of Athens.

Press reports said Mr Panagopoulos’ family paid the kidnappers an undisclosed sum in ransom yesterday, but police could not immediately confirm that.

Three gunmen had snatched Mr Panagopoulos and his driver from near the shipowner’s home in the southern Athens suburb of Vouliagmeni on January 12. They later released the driver unharmed, but tied to a tree.

Two vehicles used in the kidnapping were found burned a few hours later several miles from the site of the abduction.

Police had appealed for Mr Panagopoulos’ release, saying he suffered from serious medical problems that meant he needed daily medication.

Mr Panagopoulos founded Royal Cruise Line in 1971, with his ships offering cruises around the world. He later sold the company and founded Attica Group, a company that owned two of Greece’s largest ferry lines running routes within Greece and from Greece to Italy. He no longer runs the company.

Kidnappings are rare in Greece, but prominent businessmen have occasionally been abducted for ransom.

Last June, gunmen snatched Greek industrialist Giorgos Mylonas from outside his home in the northern city of Thessaloniki and held him for 13 days until his family paid a ransom.

In August, police arrested four suspects in that case, including Greece’s most wanted man, convicted armed robber Vassilis Paleokostas, who had escaped from a maximum security prison in Athens in 2006 using a helicopter commandeered by accomplices.