Police dismantled a large drug gang in Ioannina

Today (23/10) ELAS announced that she managed to neutralize a large drug trafficking network with 84 members and operated mainly in the Ioannina region.

The statement said that their activities can be traced back to October 2023, with more than 300 incidents associated with them, and the profits made by this particular network of drug traffickers exceed 200,000 euros.

In addition, it should be noted that their activities were mainly related to trade cocaine and cannabis for clients located in Ioannina and other regions.

Of the 84 members of the network, 82 are Greek citizens and 2 are Albanian. As announced by ELAS, they will be transferred to the prosecutor of first instance. Below is the message from ELAS:

“A drug trafficking network of several dozen people was dismantled after a month-long investigation by the Ioannina Security Sub-Directorate.

The compiled case materials include a total of 84 people (82 Greek citizens and 2 foreigners), accused – in each specific case – of “organizing a criminal community”, “laundering money from criminal activities” and violations of drug laws.

In addition, during the investigation it was established that one of the accused committed a robbery in Ioannina early in the morning of 10/16/2024, when, hiding his facial features, he forced an employee of one of the enterprises to hand over proceeds from a cash register at gunpoint.

The activities of the criminal network have been defined since at least October 2023, when its members systematically acquired, stored and distributed drugs – mainly cocaine and raw cannabis – to various users in the Ioannina area and other regions of the country. To communicate with each other, they mainly used telephone connections registered to third – even non-existent – parties (ghost phones), and also communicated through Internet applications.

During the investigation of the case, at least 355 cases of drug trafficking were identified, the financial benefits of which are estimated to exceed 220,000 euros. It is noted that the three accused were arrested on different occasions by the anti-narcotics department of the Ioannina Security Sub-Directorate for drug trafficking, namely:

• 72.4 grams of cocaine were seized on 10/30/2023 (corresponding press release dated 10/31/2023)
• 03/11/2024 10.5 kg of raw cannabis was seized (corresponding press release dated 03/13/2024)
• On 05/29/2024, 35 fixias containing 42.37 grams of cocaine were seized (corresponding press release dated 05/30/2024).

To eliminate the network, a large-scale police operation was carried out yesterday (10/22/2024) morning, during which 7 citizens were arrested, including the accused of the robbery.

During the investigation that followed in the houses of those arrested, the following were found and confiscated:

• 13 mobile phones,
• 10 empty packages (“fixakia”) with drug residues,
• precision scales
• 2 coffee grinders for cannabis.

Those arrested will be taken to the prosecutor's office of the Ioannina District Court.

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