Exarchia sweep ends with three arrests

A police crackdown on crime dens in the central Athens district of Exarchia on Thursday ended with three arrests and 68 people being taken into custody for questioning.

The operation was launched early on Thursday morning and was focused mainly on two illegal squats authorities believe are run by anarchists, as well as on an undisclosed number of apartments suspected of being used by drug rackets.

Two of the suspects who were arrested are women who have only been identified as being French and Italian. The third suspect is reportedly a 50-year-old Greek man who was found in possession of a significant amount of drugs during a raid on his apartment.

Authorities remanded a total of 68 people, all of whom are said to be foreign nationals, according to initial reports.