Athens police intercept heroin package

Authorities said on Thursday that officers of the financial crimes squad and narcotics unit seized 3.4 kilos of heroin on Tuesday that had been concealed in African folk art paintings which arrived in a package at a courier office in Athens from Mozambique via France.

Greek authorities, who were tipped off about the package by their French colleagues, arrested a 27-year-old Nigerian national who showed up at the office to claim the package using a forged residence permit.

Authorities were investigating whether the suspect, who appeared before an Athens prosecutor, was part of wider network that smuggles drugs into Greece using postal packages.