Primula

Greek police on the rugged mountainous border with Albania on Monday arrested three Albanian men accused of illegally picking large quantities of medicinal wild herbs — and of violating Greece's Covid-19 quarantine laws.

Six Albanian nationals have been arrested in the region of Grammos in northwestern Greece, near the border with Albania, on charges of violating forestry laws by illegally picking huge amounts of a wild mountain herb.

Police said they caught the men on Tuesday and seized 132 kilos of Primula veris (cowslip), as well as 10 horses that were used to carry the harvest.

Greek police say they have arrested six Albanian men near the border that separates the two countries and seized 10 horses and more than 100 kilograms of an illegally harvested wild mountain herb traditionally used to cure various ailments.