Greek police raid offices of Israeli spyware firm

Greek police raided the offices of an Israeli company that sells spyware on Tuesday, following a wiretapping scandal that has engulfed the country's intelligence services in the past several months.  

According to local reports, the Athens offices of Intellexa, the Israeli-owned company behind the Predator spyware program, were targeted in evening raids. Company executives' homes were also raided. 

The offices of Krikel, an electronic security systems provider, and four other companies were raided by police in Athens. 

Greece's political class has been embroiled in a massive and long-running scandal over revelations involving the Predator spyware, which was found on the phones or computers of prominent journalists, the leader of one of the main opposition parties, dozens of ministers, military figures and business leaders. 

In August, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was forced to admit that the country's intelligence agency was spying on opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, arguing that it was legal nevertheless. 

The latest raids come after new revelations over the weekend that implicated Intellexa and several other companies. 

The Greek government has refused to confirm whether it has used the Predator spyware for surveillance against its citizens. 

Intellexa operates through its subsidiary Cytrox, which is registered in North Macedonia and operates from Greece. 

Founded and owned by Tal Dilian, the former head of a secret Israeli intelligence unit known as Unit 81, Intellexa operates in dozens of countries, selling spyware to the highest bidder. 

Widely believed to be living in Cyprus, Dilian founded Intellexa in 2019 as a shadowy surveillance tech company.

In October, the first lawsuit against Intellexa was filed in Greece, demanding a criminal investigation into the company.

Earlier this year, an investigation by the EU Parliament found that Israeli-made spyware was widely used in Greece against the country's political class, calling it "a huge problem for democracy and the rule of law".