Nazi swastikas were used as tags when cocaine was found. Photo: Greek Police (ELAS).
In Thessaloniki, a shipment of cocaine with a swastika symbol was seized and seven people were arrested as part of a criminal group that was involved in smuggling cocaine from Latin America.
The alleged leader of the gang, which was under police surveillance, is a 50-year-old Albanian citizen, and the group included his wife, two nieces and three other people. In total, four Albanian citizens aged 50, 42, 33 and 21 years old, as well as one Greek aged 35 years, were arrested. The gang was uncovered after police stopped a 21-year-old man in the city and found 239 packages of cocaine with a total weight of 280 kg.
Ten minutes later, a 33-year-old man was detained in another area of the city, trying to hide from the police. He tried to ram a police car and crashed into a school fence. During a search of his car, 238 packages of cocaine weighing 277 kg were discovered.
During a search of the house of the alleged gang leader, another 23 packages of cocaine weighing 26 kg, 7,440 euros in cash, 7 mobile phones, 4 bank cards and other equipment were found.
According to media reports, the gang was based in Albania
Some of the drugs remained in Greece, and most of them were sent to Europe through a neighboring country. It is estimated that this quantity can be “broken down” into 1,750,000 doses, with the retail price of all of them “reaching” 175 million euros, and the wholesale price of the drugs is estimated at 11-33 million euros.
Police photographs appear to show Nazi swastikas on some of the packages. In photographs released by Greek police of seized drugs and money, the Nazi symbol is blurred.
Last May, Peruvian authorities seized packages of cocaine with Nazi swastikas and the name “Hitler” in one of the ports in northern Peru, from where it was supposed to be sent to Belgium.
Why “Hitler”, and why is there a “swastika” on the packaging?
Police said they were investigating links to Nazi groups, saying there were no known Nazi groups in Peru and that the symbol may have been used only as a style statement. Drugs are often identified by a symbol representing the group that manufactures or sells the product.
After World War II, thousands of high-ranking Nazi officers sought refuge in South America, and in Europe, captured leaders were tried for crimes against humanity. It is quite possible that products bearing Nazi symbols are produced by the ideological (or physical) heirs of the German Nazis.
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