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The two young members of the Greek Police shown on the video were killed a year ago by a gang armed with AK-47 assault rifles. The two heroic policemen were pursuing the criminals who had just robbed a newsagent kiosk stealing a few hundred euros. It seems that the AK-47 assault rifle is the weapon of choice for the armed gangsters that attack small shops in Greece. Rumor has it that it is very easy to obtain the famous Kalasnikof automatic rifle in Greece by spending a few hundred Euros in the black market. According to the Hellenic Arms Control Center (HACC), the AK-47 began to appear in Greece in 1997 when the Albanian security system collapsed allowing Albanian thugs and criminals to storm the Albanian Army weapon depots and arm themselves with the infamous rifle (carrying also a few spare ones on their way home). In the USA it is rather unusual to see a small-time crook carrying an automatic assault rifle while trying to rob a small shop or a newspaper kiosk. This is not the case in Greece where such a weapon may be easily obtained and used to threaten an invalid old man in order to rob him of a few hundred Euros. The reason for such a bizarre situation is that, unlike AK-47s, handguns such as automatic pistols and revolvers cannot be easily found in the Greek market and of course they were very rare in the Albanian Army arsenal. Many more illegal arms are expected to find their way to Greece as the Libyan rebels that overthrew Gaddafi cannot be trusted to secure the vast arsenal that they now possess. The Greek Police are sometimes forced to return fire to AK-47s with their tiny revolvers and pistols some of which are obsolete. HACC is trying to launch a campaign which will strengthen security and stability in Greece by informing the public and stimulating public debate over the above issues.

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