Around the World: Greece

$39m ransom frees tycoon

Kidnappers freed Greek shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos yesterday after his family paid a ransom of around 30 million euros ($39 million), a week after he was seized at gunpoint in a plush coastal suburb of Athens.

Police discovered the 74-year-old, who founded Greek ferry operator Superfast Ferries, in the early hours in the town of Aspropyrgos some 20 km west of Athens after the kidnappers called his wife to reveal his location.