The holiday island plagued by sex attacks where creeps stalk strip & drag women into toilets… with 8 rapes in 20 days

MIDNIGHT strikes and the strip is full of bare-skinned tourists worming their way through a drunken maze as neon lights flicker overhead and music pounds from every doorway. Tonight, I am standing in the middle of it, watching holidaymakers pour between bars, while the words “will you have sex with me?” and “hello sexy” ricochet through the humid night on the strip. Sun reporter Jeylin Mehmet visits the Greek party island of Zante where eight rapes have been reported in less than three weeks Credit: Louis Wood The Laganas strip on the Greek island of Zante Credit: Louis Wood Beneath the carnival of booze-filled revelry on the Greek island of Zante, a horrifying tally is quietly building up. Eight rapes were reported in just 20 days in the holiday hotspot this summer – with Brits among those who have been tragically affected. As club anthems cannon through the streets, another wave of partygoers disappear behind another nightclub door in Laganas – the area where most of the attacks are reportedly linked to. A dirty plume of smoke drifts above the strip – belching out of the boozy lairs and smudging the stars into a bruised, nicotine-stained sky. On the street corner, a shopkeeper serves out the essentials of the after-dark economy – vapes for those still chasing the buzz and bottles of water for those already paying the price – as bleary-eyed revellers stagger through his doors. Hairs Papageorgiou is barely halfway through opening his till when he begins recounting the kind of scenes he has encountered. The 55-year-old former club security guard tells me two British girls were left sobbing on the pavement outside his shop just a month ago. He said: “They told me they had been touched all over their body. They were panicking and very emotional. She was very upset, she said to me ‘he touched me’.” Jeylin speaks to Hairs Papageorgiou, a shopkeeper in Laganas, Zante Credit: Louis Wood The packed strip in Laganas – an area popular with Brit holidaymakers Credit: Louis Wood Hairs said he hears the ambulance come to the strip at least three to four times a night. He told me: “You think, god, what’s happened again?” That grim reality is reflected in figures from Michalis Giannakos, president of public healthcare workers’ union POEDIN, who said eight female tourists had sought medical attention in less than three weeks after reporting they had been raped. He said: “It is abhorrent and humiliating what is happening to the women, with individuals taking advantage of the state of intoxication in which they may be.” Greece has seen a marked increase in the amount of sexual violence in the last 14 years, with police recording 1,250 offences in 2024, compared to just 511 in 2010, according to Eurostat data. The shocking revelation comes as two teen Brits were allegedly raped by the same man on the island. The women told police they met the man while on holiday. Georgia Papadopoulou, 21, a sex shop sales worker told us: “I’ve seen girls begging boys to stop, the men are like cavemen and many people come here to do that.” Bars offering deals to tourists on the Laganas strip in Zante Credit: Louis Wood Ambulances are frequently spotted on the strip Credit: Louis Wood She said: “I’ve seen a girl who was on the street corner throwing up and saw a man who didn’t know who she was saying ‘come on, come home with me’. “They were kissing five minutes earlier but she really didn’t feel well and told him to go away. “The reason why there’s more cases coming out is because girls are less scared to speak up. “I’ve heard boys say ‘I’m going to f*** her’ to their friends while pointing to women on the strip.” Sexual violence is not the only dark cloud hanging over this sun-drenched party island. For decades, reports of drink-spiking have emerged in Zante – with some tourists left dangerously ill, and in some cases blind, after consuming drinks contaminated with toxic methanol. And on the heaving strip, temptation is never more than a few paces away. A 30-second stroll can have tourists greeted with at least five desperate promoters thrusting deals under their noses – including the irresistible-sounding promise of a free shot if they step inside their pulsing, fluorescent lairs. But Hairs claims that what is poured into those complimentary glasses can be anything but harmless. Hairs said: “The free shot they give out are called ‘Bomba’. They take the empty drinks from the tables, which could be laced, and chuck them into a bowl. Then they get the free shots from that bowl.” He also alleges that some vodka bottles displayed behind bars may be genuine branded bottles refilled with counterfeit alcohol – which he claims can sometimes contain dangerous liquids. In 2016, British holidaymaker Hannah Powell was left vomiting and exhausted after a night on a Zante bar crawl with two friends. Hairs Papageorgiou, a shopkeeper in Laganas, Zante Credit: Louis Wood Adverts for a live strip show in Laganas Credit: Louis Wood Hospital tests revealed the horrifying truth: Hannah had suffered methanol poisoning after being served vodka allegedly mixed with the toxic substance. The poison attacked her body so severely that her kidneys shut down – and she was left blind. Walking away from the shopkeeper, I notice at least ten medical centres dotted along the strip, their harsh white lights piercing through the beaming blue and green disco beams. I’m greeted inside by the medical team manager, Michail Samson, who told me: “This summer we have had many people come in here with reports of rape and sexual violence. “It is really important when we have reports like this because we have to take special measures. We call the police, we call the national ambulance and a friend must come with them.” In the most recent eight reported cases, no prosecutions were brought forward after the women reportedly declined to identify the alleged perpetrators or file charges, according to local media reports. Yet the allegations do not stop at Laganas’ notorious strip. For Sarah Clock*, her long-awaited girls’ holiday took a sinister turn within days of landing on the island, when her group headed for the party boat they had been counting down to for months. The Laganas strip in Zante during the day Credit: Louis Wood A strip club in Laganas, Zante Credit: Louis Wood She claims that before boarding, a man working at the club they had visited grabbed her by the waist and asked: “Are you single?” Sarah*, 21, from Sunderland, alleges the man, whom she describes as being in his 50s, then began grabbing her breasts and told her: “I want you to give me 12 of my babies.” Sitting with me inside Aura Club on the strip, she recalls desperately trying to break free. She said: “I was trying to get away but he was a big guy and had a tight grip. We had only just got there so we hadn’t even drank anything yet. “I think they think that we owe them something a lot of the time.” The strip takes an altogether stranger turn a little further down the road. There are perhaps six or seven of these establishments lined along the street, their doors firmly shut, giving away nothing of what lies behind them. Outside one, a pair of middle-aged women stand guard as ticket officers, an oddly watchful presence amid the drunken traffic passing by. I ask if I can sneak a look inside. One of them turns to me and asks: “Do you want to strip?” I laugh and quickly tell her no. Her reply is blunt: “You either pay or strip.” Curious, I ask whether many tourists actually go inside. “Yes, loads,” she says. Then I ask how many women they approach with the same question. Her answer is: “All of them.” In one major operation, authorities arrested 21 individuals – including venue owners and workers – charging them with running illegal prostitution networks out of local strip clubs. Police investigations revealed that many of the women working in the clubs – largely from Eastern Europe – were operating without required permits or were tied to seasonal sex-trafficking syndicates. Next door, I divert my attention to a bar, where a female server standing outside tells me of another alleged incident she says happened around a month ago. Rafaela Nikolaou, 20, says: “Police came to the restaurant and said a British girl came running out of the toilets crying and saying someone had raped her and put something in her drink.” According to the woman, officers scrambled to locate the alleged attacker. “It wasn’t this bar, but it was one of the ones along here,” she adds. A police officer patrolling the strip later tells me of another disturbing allegation, this time involving a male tourist from Italy and a woman from the Netherlands. The officer said: “We recently made an arrest last week when a woman came up to us and said ‘we were dancing inside the club and this man dragged me into the toilet and sexually assaulted me’. “This behaviour happens every year, but I’ve only been here for three weeks and I have had lots of people come up to me about being sexually assaulted.” By now, I have made my way to another enormous, palace-like club swallowing British tourists one by one as they climb its towering staircase, drinks in hand and shirts already clinging to their backs. Outside, the security guard, around 50, is looking at a girl in her 20s up and down before the words: “Hello sexy girl” spill out of his mouth. Confused, the girl scurries away. Earlier, I spoke to a group of girls who told me their British rep had immediately warned them about the club, claiming bar staff deliberately spike tourists’ drinks. Annabelle Lees, 22, from Manchester, said: “We are worried being here, every two seconds we’re catcalled and whatever else. “But what we were most worried about was when our British rep told us that the bar staff spike tourists in that bar. “They apparently have a deal with the medical centres along the strip who will take in girls who have been spiked and have a huge payout from health insurers.” I later tracked down the rep, who stood by the warning, although he stressed that the allegations were only rumours. “They are just rumours but it’s a seedy place,” he said. He then claimed: “At least three people tell me they were spiked every morning during my months-long season here.” In 2019, Julie Crowe, 18, from Ireland took her own life three months after being drugged and raped while on holiday in Greece, an inquest heard. Rafaela, the waitress at one of the bars, told me a lot of assaults cases often happen in the hotels in Laganas. She said: “They are not that safe. You can always hear boys banging on girls doors trying to get in.” Another bartender working during the day had also told me there was a hotel manager abusing girls staying at his hotel in Laganas. POEDIN said this week that an Italian tourist needed specialised medical treatment to treat injuries that, according to her, were caused after rape. Speaking to another police officer, he said: “Only one was serious and the rest are fake. The only serious one was the Italian girl.” But last week, police rejected claims that tourist rapes are not being investigated. Friday’s police statement said all three cases were fully investigated, in cooperation with judicial and medical authorities. The statement read: “We are dedicated to investigating every report, protecting victims and reliably informing public opinion, solely based on official and confirmed data.” The FCDO has trained consular teams available 24 hours a day, ready to offer support and advice to Brits, including on how to report crimes overseas. Brits who have been victims of abuse should contact police immediately, and ring +44 (0)20 7008 5000 for consular support. *Not her real name