The hundreds of gold traders and pawn shops that have sprung up across Greece over the past three or four years are rapidly making it into the police’s crime bulletins on an almost daily basis. Behind many of the garish store signs advertising “I buy gold,” found on almost every main street in every neighborhood in the country, what is abundantly clear is that laws and regulations stay at the door, as authorities in Greece find themselves stymied by the massive trade in gold and unable to get a grip on the number of such stores that are cropping up or the manner in which they go into business. The Bank of Greece, ... (full story)