Man, 57, held on cocaine trafficking charges

Police in Thessaloniki on Tuesday detained a 57-year-old Albanian national believed to be a leading member of an international racket that has been smuggling large quantities of drugs into Greece.

According to investigators, the suspect was taking delivery of cocaine and overseeing its distribution across the country but chiefly in and around the Thessaloniki area.

A search of his home in the northern port city’s Ambelokipi neighborhood turned up 24 packages of cocaine weighing a total of 1.37 kilograms as well as equipment for preparing the drugs for distribution as well as precision scales.