210 kg of cocaine found in container with shrimp

5 million euros exceeded the profits of a gang caught transporting cocaine that was found inside a container in the port of Piraeus.

During a police operation on Wednesday morning, May 22, the leader of the group, an Albanian drug dealer, was arrested. The Attica Drug Enforcement Unit dismantled a transnational criminal organization whose members were smuggling large quantities of cocaine from Latin America. They were transported by sea and hidden in containers for further import and sale in European countries, including Greece, in order to obtain large sums of illegal profit.

To expose the criminal organization, cooperation was developed with the DEA office of the US Embassy. The operation was preceded by a months-long investigation, during which, through the proper use, analysis and cross-checking of information and data, as well as other investigative techniques, it was possible to identify and verify the activities of members of the criminal organization. The roles of each were distributed as follows:

• The 48-year-old man took over the management and leadership of the criminal organization, financing the purchase and transportation, organizing the transport of drugs from Latin America, as well as hiding drugs in containers with destinations throughout the country and their further movement,
• The 36-year-old member of the group took it upon himself to find and recruit other members,
• The 64-year-old man communicated with other members of the organization located abroad to coordinate supplies and finance volumes subject to illicit trafficking,
• The 54-year-old man was entrusted with operational cover and protection of the leader, taking appropriate measures to avoid his arrest.

To put an end to their actions, a police operation was carried out yesterday morning, during which the leader was detained. He was found in possession of 180 improvised nylon bags of cocaine with a total weight of 210 kilograms and 300 grams for the purpose of further trafficking. During searches of houses and vehicles, the following were found and confiscated:

• cocaine with a total weight of 510 grams,
• raw hemp weighing 1.5 grams,
• 131,675 euros and 30 British pounds,
• a pistol with a fifteen (15) round magazine,
• electronic balance,
• 2 motorcycles,
• 17 mobile phones,
• memory card (USB device),
• 3 electronic geolocation devices (GPS tracker),
• notebooks.

It is noted that the leader faces a 20-year prison term and a fine, since in 2017 he was accused of organizing and operating a laboratory for the production of synthetic drug tablets. More than 634,000 tablets were then discovered and confiscated captagon. Investigations are ongoing to establish the full extent of the criminal organization's illegal activities and any links it may have with other similar networks, as well as the identity of other members.

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