Athens (Reuters) -Six employees in the largest Havenpiraeus in Greece, arrested for alleged participation in a gang who smuggled cocaine hidden in shipping containers from Latin -America, were imprisoned on Friday pending the trial, said legal sources.
The case is the third investigation since 2023 that led to the arrest of port employees in the field of drug trafficking.
The suspects, employed by a private company that handled freight activities in Piraeus Port, were arrested on Monday. On Friday they responded to charges, including participation in an international criminal organization, at least since 2024, according to police officers. They have denied misconduct.
The drugs were hidden in cooled containers loaded with bananas sent from Ecuador, the police said.
The Greek police said that the investigation that the tactic of the gang revealed and supervised their communication was launched after a tip from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
The criminal ring, led by an Albanian gang, operated the access of employees to port facilities and knowledge of loading and unloading freight procedures, said the police officers.
The alleged gang members had to find the ships and remove the cocaine parcels from the containers, and one of them was in contact with the buyers of the medicine in Albania, the officials added. Three weapons and bullets were seized during the operation.
Defense lawyer Nikos Aletras said Reuters that the initial investigation was “rushed” and the charges were worse because seven suspects appeared before a public prosecutor on Friday to respond to the accusations. Six of them were later held pending a test and a seventh suspect was released.
The South -American production of cocaine has risen over the past decade, with human traffickers being to turn Europe into a large consumer and a transit point for cocaine. Since 2017, European countries have seized record quantities of cocaine.
(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou; Edit by Diane Craft)
