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Crime Motivated Murder in Greece of Diamond Dealer from Jerusalem

October 24, 2005
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An Israeli businessman who had gone missing in Greece was murdered. The body of diamond dealer Shmuel Levy was discovered Saturday in a coastal town 30 miles from Athens, two weeks after he disappeared. Local police said several Greeks were under arrest on suspicion of abducting and killing Levy, 66, because they believed he was carrying diamonds.

Earlier theories had been that Levy, who lived in Jerusalem and held both Israeli and U.S. passports, had been abducted by terrorists, because his belongings were left behind in his rented apartment.

After he disappeared, the Greek police started interviewing people who knew Levy and had done business with him in the past.

Among the suspects was a 22-year-old who worked occasionally for a Greek diamond dealer.

During the interrogation he admitted that he along with his boss and two other accomplices murdered Levy in the offices of his boss.

After they killed him they put him in a trunk and transferred the body to a town outside of Athens where a closed-down mine is located, and dumped the trunk in one of the mine shafts.

During the interrogation, the man said that they were helped by two other people in transferring the body to the shaft.

At least four men have confessed to their roles in the crime.

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