Opioids

The traces of a 34-year-old Greek and a 30-year-old foreigner who were systematically engaged in the trafficking of “hard” drugs in the wider area of Mytilene, led the police officers of the Narcotics Department to the evidence collected in the preliminary investigation.

Security authorities seized 850 kilograms of heroin at the Habur Customs Gate on the southeastern border of Türkiye with Iraq, marking the highest quantity of heroin ever seized in a single operation at border crossings, the Trade Ministry has announced.

Experts at the Greek Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals (KETHEA) are warning that the shisha drug, which caused the death of a 16-year-old girl in Athens last week, has spread as a recreational narcotic for young people.

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a U.N. report published Sunday.

Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made.

Two men have been arrested in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on drug-related charges, as a third suspect was identified and being sought.

According to a police announcement on Tuesday, the suspects, aged 26 and 51 respectively, are thought to be responsible for keeping, distributing and dealing drugs for a gang headed by the third man.  

Police in Piraeus have arrested a 31-year-old non-national for the possession, adulteration and trafficking of heroin.

A search of the man's home yielded a laboratory for the adulteration and processing of heroin was found.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou participated in the action of the Streetwork group of the Organization Against Drugs (OKANA) in central Athens on Monday. The team distributed safer use kits to drug users on the street as well as a Covid-19 personal protection kit, a snack and clothing.

Police said on Friday they arrested two 24-year-old women from Brazil at Athens International Airport on Thursday night after they were found to be in possession of more than 13 kilos of cocaine.

The women were arrested following targeted searches to control the movement of narcotics to Greece from countries in South America.

Police arrested two 24-year-old women from Brazil at Athens International Airport on Thursday night after they were found to be in possession of more than 13 kilos of cocaine.

The women were arrested following targeted searches to control the movement of narcotics to Greece from countries in South America.

The "Balkan route," including Türkiye, is of vital importance in opiate trafficking as it is the most frequently used route for smuggling heroin and morphine, according to a recent report from the police's anti-narcotic unit.