A kiwi traveller has told of an overnight ordeal at the hands of police on the idyllic tourist island of Crete.
Joel Stirling, 29, says he was was kidnapped, beaten and robbed by Greek police after being set up by a seemingly friendly local in a restaurant in the town of Chania.
Stirling and his two friends were holidaying in Greece after a six-month stint working on super yachts and had befriended the man over dinner. Stirling stayed out without his friends, but soon was confronted by two police officers, who cuffed his hands behind his back, pushed him into a car and put a sack over his head.
At the police station, he says he was kicked to the ground, beaten and robbed of his wallet, carrying around $200.
"It quickly escalated into a really serious situation," Stirling said. "They starting punching me, just laying into me. I think I got hit in the face with a police baton. They were very menacing. They kept saying 'no one's going to save you, you're not going to leave alive'. They wouldn't tell me why I had been arrested or what I had done."