Almost 100 kilos of cocaine – worth €4 million ($AUD 6.6 million) – were found in a container at the Piraeus port. The cocaine’s origin seems to be Ecuador; the Liberian-flagged vessel had a cargo of bananas.
The seizure was carried out at noon on November 14 by a team of officers of the Directorate of Narcotics & Smuggling of the Headquarters of the Hellenic Coast Guard and the Regional Narcotics Investigation Team of the Central Port Authority of Piraeus, with the assistance of officials of the 3rd Customs Office of Piraeus. The Central Port Authority of Piraeus carried out a preliminary investigation.
The following days after the successful operation in Piraeus, the authorities initiated a similarly extensive operation at the port of Thessaloniki. Members of the local police authorities carried out a further investigation, the Regional Drug Enforcement Teams of the Central Port Authority of Thessaloniki & Piraeus and the Customs Office of Thessaloniki, on an additional sixteen containers linked to the initial one in Piraeus, which, however, did not reveal any wrongdoing. The authorities used their most well-trained to-date canine teams and X-ray systems.
Drug trafficking in Athens – is a priority for the Ministry of Citizen Protection. Drug trafficking through Greek ports has been elevated as a Greek and European issue.
Greek authorities consult their EU peers daily and now have advanced technology to detect illegal substances. The issue of drug trafficking at Europe’s ports is timely, and Greece seems to be doing a better job at tackling it compared to EU countries like Belgium or Spain.
