Cannabis smoking

A 44-year-old man who was arrested in Thessaloniki on Friday after being found in possession of a dozen cookies containing cannabis as well as 4 kilograms of the drug in loose form, was due to face a prosecutor over the weekend to answer to trafficking charges.

Police believe he supplied another two suspects, aged 43 and 45, who acted as his dealers.

“The issue of organized crime is delicate as it affects the image that politicians and the public have of Albania in EU member states," Gledis Gjipali, director of the European Movement in Albania, a Tirana-based think tank, said.

Police said on Wednesday that they arrested six men for drug possession and dealing in Attica.

Two 25-year-olds were caught in Peristeri, western Athens, in possession of a small amount of cannabis.

Another man was arrested in Monastiraki Square, where he was attempting to sell methamphetamine.

A 43-year-old was arrested in Palaio Faliro while in possession of cannabis.

The plenary session of the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, on Thursday upheld an appeal lodged by the owner of the nationwide chain Kannabishop, which sells clothes, bags and other items made of hemp, a derivative of the cannabis plant, and granted him 14,673 euros in compensation for moral damage after a police crackdown on his business.

The owner of a marijuana factory near Bulgaria's southern city of Pazardzhik has been sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of BGN 20 000.

The ruling of the Pazardzhik District Court came after a plea deal, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

2 tons of cannabis seized in Albania

VLORE -- The Albanian police on Thursday confiscated two tons of cannabis and arrested two suspects.

The drugs were seized in the port town of Vlore, and were meant to be sold in Italy.

According to the police, the shipment was hidden inside a vehicle that was to be transported to Italy in a dinghy.

A second-instance court in Bulgaria has decided to reverse the acquittal of Marin Kalchev, who was earlier tried for owning and growing cannabis at home.

Kalchev is now to pay a BGN 1000 (EUR 500) fine and to cover trial expenses, after fresh ruling by the city of Lovech's District Court.

He as nevertheless declared free of amenability.

Acting on a tip-off, police stopped a car on the Igoumenitsa-Ioannina highway in northwestern Greece on Monday that was laden with 186.5 kilos of cannabis.

The drug was packed into 176 bundles that were hidden in the boot of the car and under the back seat. The 34-year-old Albanian man who was driving the car was arrested.

The Lovech Regional Court acquitted Marin Kalchev who was tried for owning and growing two cannabis plants in his home. 

Kalchev, who is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was using the plants for extracting cannabis oil to alleviate his symptoms, until last April his home was stormed by police, which found the two plants.