Life imprisonment, and additional temporary sentences from 8 to 15 years, was imposed by the Three-member Criminal Appeal Court of Thessaloniki on each of the five defendants who were arrested in September 2023 for the “mammoth” amount of 585 kg of cocaine, which was seized by EL.AS . in eastern Thessaloniki.

The Court convicted one in the case 52-year-old, his 43-year-old wife, their two nieces (22 and 34), as well as a 36-year-oldas he found them guilty of a distinguished case of drug trafficking and criminal organization (address and membership as the case may be).

All convicts are Albanian nationalswith the exception of the 36-year-old, who has Greek citizenship but draws his origins from the neighboring country.

It was the largest quantity of cocaine seized by the prosecuting authorities in the city and one of the largest in the Greek territory.

According to the estimates of the Authorities, the illegal merchandise – me origin from Latin America– would lead to the circuit that would traffic it profits from 11 to 33 million. if it ended up in the wholesale market, while in retail after adulteration and “breaking” into smaller batches, the profit could even reach 175 million euros.

The policemen had caused a sensation nazi swastika which bore as a symbol some of the total 500 packages of cocaine seized (others had the car manufacturer company logo). As an experienced police officer who participated in the investigations and testified as a witness explained, this is a common practice followed by Latin American cartels, that is, to use logos, giving identity to the quantities of cocaine they prepare in their laboratories.

Regarding the operation of the General Affairs Department of the Thessaloniki Narcotics Prosecution Sub-Directorate, the same witness reported that there was information from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) about the arrival of the cargo through the port of Thessaloniki, so the persons involved were put under surveillance and arrested in areas of Epanomi and Agia Triada.

With the exception of the 43-year-old, who denied the accusations, the others in their apologies confessed their involvement, but emphasized that they thought the parcels contained hashish. In addition, they stated that they themselves were simple transporters and that they would leave the drugs “locked up” in two houses, where they would be picked up by another person, who was not named. “If I had known it was cocaine I would have left. I thought it was hashish,” said the 52-year-old, to whom the indictment assigned a “prominent” role. He stated that he had worked for 18 years as a firefighter in Albania and that his co-accused would receive 10,000 euros as a fee and he would receive a larger fee after delivering the drugs.