Rio de Janeiro police said on Thursday that they are investigating the disappearance of Greece’s ambassador to Brazil.

Kyriakos Amiridis was last seen Monday night, the police said in a statement.

A police spokeswoman later told The Associated Press that a family member reported him missing in the city of Nova Iguacu, 25 miles (40 km) north of Rio. Greece’s Foreign Ministry said he had been on vacation in the Rio area.

The Greek ministry issued a statement saying it had “requested the full mobilization of Brazilian authorities,” but gave no details.

According to the Greek Embassy website in Brazil, Amiridis started his career as a diplomat in 1985 in Athens and became Greece’s top diplomat in Brazil in 2016.

He earlier was Greece’s ambassador to Libya and worked as consul in Rio from 2001 and 2004.

Brazilian news website G1 reported that Amiridis’ wife has an apartment in Nova Iguacu.

The Greek foreign ministry said the embassy in Brasilia was informed Wednesday by people close to the ambassador that they have been unable to communicate with him since Monday. </s> Rio de Janeiro, Dec 30: Greece's ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, went missing three days ago near Rio de Janeiro while vacationing with his family, police said today, asking for information that could help locate him." A case has been opened to investigate the ambassador's disappearance," Rio state police said in a statement.

Start the conversation, or Read more at India.com. </s> Police in Rio de Janeiro are questioning the wife of Greece's ambassador to Brazil in connection with his disappearance.

Kyriakos Amiridis went missing on Monday in the city of Nova Iguacu, 25 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

Greece's embassy in Brasilia said he had been on holiday near Rio.

The ambassador's wife, Francoise Amiridis, has now arrived at a police station in the Rio area for questioning.

The Greek embassy website in Brazil said Mr Amiridis started his career as diplomat in 1985 in Athens and became Greece's top diplomat in Brazil in 2016.

He was previously Greece's ambassador to Libya and worked as consul in Rio from 2001-2004. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Police officials in Rio de Janeiro say that the Greek ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, may have been a victim of a crime of passion and suspect the diplomat was killed at the home of his wife’s relatives and later put into a car which was burned.

The diplomat was reported missing on Tuesday by his wife after leaving family and friends on Monday night. Police confirmed that the burned car found in the metropolitan region was the one rented by the missing diplomat and that the charred body found inside the vehicle was taken to the medical examiners’ office to be identified.

“We’re now going to do the technical procedures to find out if the body was the ambassador’s,” said sheriff Evaristo Pontes, of the Baixada Fluminense Homicide Police force in Nova Iguaçu on Thursday night.

According to local news reports Amiridis’s wife, Françoise, who is Brazilian, was having an affair with a military police officer. The reports also say that blood was found on a sofa inside the house in Nova Iguaçu and that the furniture was taken by officers for further analysis. According to Globo, the police officer in question arrived at the police station at dawn on Friday with a lawyer for questioning.

Amiridis currently works in Brasilia as head of the Greek embassy and went on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, where he was the European country’s general counsel from 2001 to 2004.

The Greek embassy in Brasilia issued a statement on Thursday, stating that ‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Greek Embassy in Brasilia are monitoring the case closely and, in close cooperation with the Brazilian authorities, are taking all appropriate actions’. </s> The body found in a burned-out car in Rio de Janeiro may be Kyriakos Amiridis, Greece’s missing ambassador to Brazil.

The BBC reports Amiridis’s charred rental vehicle was found in Nova Iguacu, under a flyover on one of the main access roads to Rio. Police don’t believe he was kidnapped, as no one has reached out to his family with a ransom demand.

Kyriakos Amiridis was last seen Monday night, the police said in a statement.

A police spokeswoman later told The Associated Press that a family member reported him missing in Nova Iguacu, 40 kilometres north of Rio.

Greece’s Foreign Ministry said he had been on vacation in the Rio area.

The Greek ministry issued a statement saying it had “requested the full mobilization of Brazilian authorities,” but gave no details.

According to the Greek Embassy website in Brazil, Amiridis started his career as diplomat in 1985 in Athens and became Greece’s top diplomat in Brazil in 2016.

He earlier was Greece’s ambassador to Libya and worked as consul in Rio from 2001 and 2004.

Brazilian news website G1 reported that Amiridis’ wife has an apartment in Nova Iguacu.

The Greek foreign ministry said the embassy in Brasilia was informed Wednesday (sic) by people close to the ambassador that they have been unable to communicate with him since Monday.

With files from Nicholas Paphitis and the National Post </s> RIO De JANEIRO – Brazilian police said they believe a body found in a burned-out car is likely Greek Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, who has been missing three days.

The TV channel Globo made the report. Amiridis, 59, was last seen on Dec. 26 leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a suburb of Rio’s metropolitan area, police had said earlier.

A state police official said the ambassador’s wife reported him as missing only two days later, on Dec. 28.

Globo showed images of the charred white car in the Nova Iguaçu neighbourhood where the Ambassador went missing and reported that the licence plates on the car matched those of Amiridis’s rental vehicle.

An official at the Greek embassy in Brasília would not confirm the Ambassador was missing, saying only that he was on vacation in Rio and expected to return to the capital on Jan. 9.

Rio police inspector Evaristo Pontes had earlier told the Folha de São Paulo newspaper that he did not believe the Ambassador was kidnapped. “We’re following some leads, but not that one,” he said. “If it had been (a kidnapping,), those who took him would have made contact by now.”

Amiridis was experienced in Brazil, having served as Consul General in Rio from 2001-04. He was Ambassador to Libya from 2012 until getting the top job in Brazil at the beginning of 2016.

Neither Brazil’s Foreign Ministry nor Greece’s would comment on the case. </s> Greece’s ambassador to Brazil has been missing for three days, and Rio de Janeiro state police said there was still no sign of the diplomat as of Thursday night. Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was last seen Monday evening leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a poor and violent suburb of Rio’s metropolitan area, the police said.

A Rio state police official said the ambassador’s wife reported him as missing on Wednesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the case. Rio police inspector Evaristo Pontes told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that he does not believe the ambassador was kidnapped.

“We’re following some leads, but not that one. If it had been (a kidnapping), those who took him would have made contact by now,” he said. An official at the Greek Embassy in Brasilia would not confirm the ambassador was missing, saying only that he was on vacation in Rio and expected to return to Brasilia on Jan. 9.

Amiridis previously served as Greece’s consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004. More recently he was Greece’s ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on the case, other than to say it was being fully pursued by police. In Athens, Greece’s Foreign Ministry had no comment. </s> SAO PAULO: Greece's ambassador to Brazil has been missing for three days, and Rio de Janeiro state police said there was still no sign of the diplomat as of Thursday night.

Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was last seen Monday evening leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a poor and violent suburb of Rio's metropolitan area, the police said.

A Rio state police official said the ambassador's wife reported him as missing on Wednesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the case.

Rio police inspector Evaristo Pontes told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that he does not believe the ambassador was kidnapped.

"We're following some leads, but not that one. If it had been (a kidnapping), those who took him would have made contact by now," he said.

An official at the Greek Embassy in Brasilia would not confirm the ambassador was missing, saying only that he was on vacation in Rio and expected to return to Brasilia on Jan. 9.

Amiridis previously served as Greece's consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004.

More recently he was Greece's ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on the case, other than to say it was being fully pursued by police.

In Athens, Greece's Foreign Ministry had no comment. </s> Brazilian police suspect a body discovered inside a charred vehicle in Rio de Janeiro is Greece's ambassador to Brazil who went missing three days ago, television channel Globo reported on Thursday.

A police spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was last seen Monday evening leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a poor and violent suburb of Rio's metropolitan area, police had said earlier on Thursday.

A Rio state police official said the ambassador's wife reported him as missing on Wednesday.

Globo showed images of the burned-out white car in the Nova Iguacu neighhourhood where the ambassador went missing. The station reported that the licence plates on the car matched those of Amiridis' rental vehicle.

An official at the Greek Embassy in Brasilia would not confirm the ambassador was missing, saying only that he was on holiday in Rio and expected to return to Brasilia on Jan. 9.

Rio police inspector Evaristo Pontes had earlier told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that he did not believe the ambassador was kidnapped.

"We're following some leads, but not that one. If it had been (a kidnapping), those who took him would have made contact by now," he said.

Mr Amiridis previously served as Greece's consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004.

More recently he was Greece's ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on the case, other than to say it was being fully pursued by police.

In Athens, Greece's Foreign Ministry had no comment.
The Ambassador of Greece to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, is reported missing while on vacation in Rio de Janeiro. A homicide team is investigating his disappearance.