Four arrested after 210-kilo cocaine haul found in Piraeus port container

Four people have been arrested after hundreds of kilos of cocaine were found in a container at the port of Piraeus on Wednesday. 

The drugs, weighing 210 kilos and 300 grams, were discovered in 180 nylon packages hidden in containers of frozen shrimps that arrived from South America. Greek authorities believe the destination was Albania from where they would have been channeled to Central and Northern Europe.

Police said the criminal group had gained more than five million euros from cocaine trafficking. 

The suspects, two Greek and two Albanian nationals, include the 48-year-old man believed to be the leader of the gang who had an outstanding arrest warrant for his involvement in another drug raid in 2017, where he was accused of participating in a gang that manufactured Captagon pills in a hidden laboratory in Nea Peramos, west Attica. At the 2017 anti-drug operation, authorities had arrested four suspects, while another three had managed to escape. Among them was the Albanian national who headed the gang.

Police also said one of the Greek suspects arrested has served a prison sentence in the US and is allegedly linked to the Colombian terrorist organization FARC.

Another 110 kilos of the same drug were discovered in a separate container during the raid which authorities believe belongs to a different criminal group. The investigation is continuing to clarify who brought in the second batch of drugs. 

Greek authorities were assisted in their months-long operation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).