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International drug trafficking network chief accused of committing crime in Azerbaijan arrested in Greece

26 October 2013 07:29 (UTC +04:00)

“This is one of the greatest successes by Greek police in the fight against narcotics,” the police department said in a statement.

Code-named ’Avalanche’ and carried out with assistance from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the operation also netted over 850,000 euros ($1.1 million) and nine luxury cars.

Sixteen people were arrested in total, including four Greeks, four Albanians, four ethnic Greek Albanians, a Spaniard, a Venezuelan, a Ukrainian and an ethnic Greek from Georgia.

The Spaniard and Georgian are among the network’s suspected leaders, the police said. The Georgian is also accused of swindling in Azerbaijan.

A jailed Greek police officer is also believed to have been aiding the drug smugglers.

Most of the cocaine seized was hidden in a container of bananas from Ecuador at the port of Thessaloniki, which is a key gateway into the Balkans.

The police said they had been tracking the cartel, which was made up of five separate organisations, since November 2012