Smuggling

Some 119 kilos of cocaine with a street value of more than 5 million euros was found and seized from a container from Ecuador that docked at the port of Piraeus by auditors of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue following an investigation at the port. 

Greek police said on Friday they have smashed a criminal gang that smuggled migrants packed into trucks across the border with Turkey for up to 4,000 euros each.

Police have so far arrested seven suspects on charges of forming a criminal investigation, while at least 20 more have been identified.

Istanbul police have caught the leader of the Comanchero, one of the leading drug gangs in Australia, sought with red notice.

Duax Ngakuru, against whom a search warrant was issued at the international level was caught in his villa in the Sarıyer district.

Turkish and Italian interior ministries have signed a memorandum of understanding on the temporary assignments of police experts of the two countries in the fight against human smuggling and illegal immigration.

A large-scale operation against illegal migration and smuggling is underway across Bulgaria. The operation is joint between the police and the prosecutor's office.

Four Turkish nationals and a Palestinian accused of being members of a ring that smuggled migrants from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos have been remanded in custody.

The four Turkish nationals were arrested while transporting 43 migrants to Kos on two speedboats, which were intercepted by the coast guard.

Medeni Akbaş, who was on trial for the boat disaster in Lake Van claiming the lives of 61 irregular migrants, including one child, has been sentenced to 1033 years in prison.

Akbaş, who has been detained for two years, was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months for 60 people, 25 years for the child and eight years for "smuggling immigrants."

A total of 132 people were arrested in the southern province of Adana leg of the anti-drug operations announced by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on Oct. 4.

After nine months of technical and physical follow-up, the police launched simultaneous operations in Adana and the northern province of Samsun under the coordination of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Offices.

Police await official confirmation of reports on Thursday that Jovan Vukotic, the alleged head of the notorious Skaljari drug gang, was killed in Turkey.

Dritan Abazovic on Monday presented documentation about tobacco smuggling to the Special State Prosecutor Office, giving specific names of smugglers and their schemes.