A 35-year-old man has been shot dead at close range on a central Athens street in what investigators believe was a targeted contract killing linked to narcotics trafficking rivalries, prompting authorities to transfer the case to the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime.
Officers responding to reports of gunfire in the Exarchia district late Saturday. found the victim on the pavement with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and face.
Forensic teams recovered five spent 9mm shell casings from the scene.
Witnesses told homicide detectives that a lone gunman approached the victim on foot, opened fire at close range and fled into the neighborhood's poorly lit side streets.
The victim, believed to be of Arab origin, carried no identifying documents and had not been formally identified as of late Saturday.
The clinical nature of the attack — a daylight approach, multiple shots to the head, immediate flight — led investigators to treat it as a professional hit from the outset. Initial intelligence pointed to an ongoing turf dispute between rival drug trafficking networks operating in the area.
Given the organized crime dimensions, police headquarters transferred the case from local detectives to the specialist directorate.
High-visibility patrols remained deployed across central Athens through midnight as officers searched for the suspect.
Exarchia has long been associated with street-level drug distribution networks, and Saturday's killing marks one of the most brazen public shootings in the district in recent memory.