6 Workers Arrested For Involvement In Cocaine Smuggling At the Largest Greek Port

Greek Authorities have nabbed six port employees on charges of trying to smuggle drugs via the Piraeus Port, the biggest port facility in Greece.

This is the third time in 3 years that port officials or workers were arrested due to their links with drug trafficking.

Per reports, the workers were employed by a private company that handled cargo operations at Piraeus Port.

They are charged with being a part of international organised crime, though they have denied the charges.

The drugs were reportedly hidden in refrigerated containers loaded with bananas shipped from Ecuador.

Bananas are a common cover cargo for cocaine transported out of South America.

The region close to Guayaquil is a main transhipment area for drugs and is also famous for banana production.

When hidden among the banana shipments, it is difficult for customs officers to find the drugs. Bananas are typically exported to Europe and North America, which are also the primary destinations for the drug.

Greek Police began an investigation after receiving a tip-off and obtaining surveillance about the drug gang’s communications, revealing that it was the doing of an Albanian Crime Organisation.

They exploited the workers’ access to the port areas, ships and other permissions, and directed them to locate the ships and get the drugs out of the containers.

The Albanian Mafia is at the centre when it comes to cocaine smuggling and has close relations with Italy’s Ndrangheta, a famous drug mafia leader in Europe.

The workers were arrested after a raid in the Neo Ikonio sector of Piraeus. Authorities caught 4 stevedoring employees in the act of retrieving cocaine from a shipping container, after which they chased the accused.

They tried to get away in a Porsche mini-SUV, and the police fired at its tyres to make it stop.

Source: Maritime Shipping News