Six tons of hashish seized from Syria-flagged ship off Iraklio

The Greek coast guard has seized more than 6 tons of hashish and millions of Captagon (fenethylline) pills from a Syrian-flagged vessel that was intercepted off the coast of Crete on Sunday, it emerged on Thursday. 

The haul, one of the biggest in recent years, was discovered by the coast guard earlier this week following a tip-off by French customs authorities according to which a vessel would be sailing from the Syrian port of Latakia to Benghazi in Libya with a large amount of drugs hidden in a cargo of legal goods.

Greek authorities traced the NOKA some 50 nautical miles south of Crete on Sunday and ordered it to dock at Iraklio.

Asearch of the freighter revealed 18 containers with food, household goods and tobacco, as well as 6 tons of hashish and 3 million Captagon pills. (Captagon is a psychostimulant popular with the Islamic State militant group.)