COCAINE TRADERS EN ROUTE TO SOUTH CYPRUS
(11.01.02)
Two hundred and twenty kilos of
cocaine were discovered in a rice container in Piraeus in Greece. According to
the Greek Cypriot daily newspaper Alithia, the container was headed for South
Cyprus and belonged to a Greek Cypriot businessman’s company. The newspaper
wrote that Greek and Greek Cypriott authorities are working together to find a
Greek Cypriot man with a past history in similar cases.
The
officials revealed that a shipment of 220 kilograms of cocaine seized by Greek
drug squads originated in Colombia and arrived in Greece via Spain.
The
cocaine, with an estimated street value of more than 17 million Euros (15
million dollars) was the largest quantity it has ever been confiscated
according to the Greek police.
According
to the authorities, the container seized in Greece had been transported to
Valencia, Spain on board a cargo ship, which set sail from Barranquilla,
Colombia, on 11 November. It was then transferred onto another ship, which
arrived in the main Greek port of Piraeus on 13 December.
Police
placed the container under 24-hour surreveilance, but seized it on 8 January
after no one appeared to collect the contents.
According
to the transportation paperwork, the container had been sent by a Barranquilla-based
company identified as Commercialiazadora Vega. The recipient was listed as a
company named Don, based in Athens.
As
it is known a number of Greeks have in the past been arrested on suspicion of
international cocaine smuggling rings.
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