Nearly a tonne of heroin worth millions of euro has been seized from a warehouse at a port near to the Greek capital Athens.
Said to have been brought to Greece on a tanker the 986kg haul is thought to have originated from the waters between Pakistan and Oman.
It is believed a street gang from the Turkish city of Istanbul is behind the trafficking.
Our correspondent was at the site of the bust.
“The Greek Coast Guard and police have so far apprehended over 20 people, but more arrests relating to the case are expected in the coming days,” he said. “Having seized the largest ever haul of heroin on European soil, Greek authorities are confident they have managed to crack down on one of the biggest drug cartels operating on this side of the Atlantic.”
The detainees face charges of drug smuggling, forming a criminal organisation and breaking firearms laws.
Euronews spoke to the Greek Minister of Maritime, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis.
“We have been on this case gathering intelligence for over six months,” he said. “We worked closely with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency as well as with a number of European Union law enforcement agencies in order to put the pieces of the puzzle together and finally achieve this great success.”
It is the second such raid in in the space of a week. A 1.1-tonne stash of heroin was found in warehouses and a villa in a lavish Athens suburb days earlier.
