US Edition
Cocaine-Infused Leather Prompts Arrest of Gang Smuggling Drugs From Latin America to Greece
- In late May 2025, Greek authorities broke up a drug trafficking operation that involved importing garments from Ecuador infused with liquid cocaine into Athens.
- After receiving information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities spent several months surveilling the network before carrying out arrests on Friday.
- The gang smuggled leather hides treated with salt and cocaine from Bolivia via container ships and operated a laboratory near Athens where they chemically separated the cocaine from the leather.
- Police confiscated over 300 packages and estimated the total cocaine amount in the lab at more than 800 kilograms, equivalent to 1,764 pounds.
- Eleven suspects, including nationals from Bolivia, Spain, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Cyprus, face prosecution, highlighting evolving smuggling methods from Latin America to Europe.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Greece arrests gang smuggling cocaine-infused leather from Latin America
ATHENS - Greek police have dismantled a gang that had been hiding cocaine in sheets of leather that were smuggled from Bolivia to Greece on container ships, police officials said on Friday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Drug criminals are avoiding the now heavily guarded port of Rotterdam. Due to a newly popular smuggling method, cocaine can suddenly enter along the entire Dutch coastline, warns customs boss Nanette van Schelven. She also sees how cocaine is currently entering Europe through all the cracks and crevices. "Other countries are terribly shocked."
In Guayaquil, the National Police and the Ecuadorian Navy dealt a new blow to drug trafficking networks.
Five Greeks, three Albanians, one Bolivian, one Georgian and one Spaniard among those arrested
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Right
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
