Greek police have dismantled a criminal organisation accused of smuggling large quantities of raw cannabis through Greece, concealed within shipments of recyclable paper travelling from Albania to Turkey.
A major police operation was carried out on the morning of Friday, 14 August, in the Thessaloniki area, involving officers from the Northern Greece Organised Crime Directorate’s Drug Squad and the Thessaloniki Crime Prevention and Detection Department.
Two foreign nationals, aged 58 and 43, were arrested as members of the network, while a third, already identified, remains at large.
The operation followed the analysis of intelligence on the group’s activities, with Greek police working alongside drug enforcement authorities in North Macedonia and Kosovo to verify the extent of the operation and build profiles of those involved.
According to the investigation, the organisation operated a hierarchical, professionally run structure, using international haulage trucks to move large quantities of raw cannabis. Legitimate recycling paper shipments served a dual purpose — providing cover for the trucks’ movements and concealing the drugs within specially built compartments inside the cargo.
Investigators said the group’s members had distinct roles: an at-large suspect coordinated the organisation’s activities within Greece, including finding temporary storage sites, arranging the concealment compartments within the paper shipments, liaising with suppliers, and coordinating drivers for onward transport to Turkey; the 58-year-old supported the transport, concealment and delivery of the drugs from Greece to Turkey; and the 43-year-old was responsible for receiving the drugs from Albania and hiding them within the specially built compartments for onward transport through Greek territory to Turkey.
During the raid, the two arrested men were found in an enclosed premises in Thessaloniki in joint possession, on behalf of the wider network, of eight pallets of recycling paper — four inside a semi-trailer truck and four alongside it. Specially built compartments within the cargo concealed carefully hidden packages of raw cannabis totalling roughly 324.474 kilograms, intended for further transport and distribution in Turkey.
The wider investigation also led to the seizure of the semi-trailer truck, two private cars, two mobile phones, a foreign vehicle licence plate, 11 empty holdalls found near the drugs, and €1,165 in cash. The organisation’s expected illegal profit is estimated at more than €700,000.
The two suspects have been referred to the relevant prosecutor’s office, while investigations continue to identify and locate their associates in Albania and Turkey.
