Police break racket dealing cannabis to Athens schoolchildren

Police in Athens said on Wednesday that they have arrested 10 members of a drug dealing racket believed to have been selling drugs to secondary school students in Zografou, Kaisariani, Vyronas and Pangrati.

The suspects — eight Albanian nationals and two Greeks — are all aged between 18 and 26, according to police who said they are seeking several more suspected accomplices, all Albanian nationals.

The racket members charged between five and eight euros a gram for cannabis, police said.

Two Albanians, aged 24 and 26, are believed to have played a leading role, collecting deliveries of the drug from their homeland and storing it in the latter's home.

The drugs were subsequently distributed to the other ring members who sold them to Athens schoolchildren, police said.

In the past three months, the racket is believed to have sold some 12.5 kilograms of cannabis, netting around 100,000 euros in profit.

A search on the suspects' homes by police turned up 1.5 kilos of cannabis, 8,000 euros, an air gun and 12 cellphones.

Police also confiscated three cars and a motorcycle believed to have been used by the racket.

The suspects all faced a magistrate who indicted them to trial on drug dealing charges.