The Hellenic Police busted a heroin cartel on Friday, in a combined operation with the USA’s Drug Enforcement Agency, which was attempting to transport nearly 370 kilos of heroin from Turkey to Western European countries.
During the operation a 60-year-old retired police officer was arrested, who appears to have been at the helm of the heroin cartel, along with two Slovenian truck drivers – aged 33 and 45 respectively. To Vima has been told that the authorities had been aware of the retired officer’s involvement in organized crime for about a decade, but did not have the necessary evidence to prosecute him.
The 60-year-old had served in a number of police departments and services by the late 1990s and reportedly did not draw the attention of internal affairs services. Shortly after his retirement though, he established shipping companies and quickly became involved in various criminal activities, initially smuggling illegal cigarettes towards Great Britain.
In 2005-06 one of his shops was located in Scotland with a huge quantity of methamphetamines, while other reports indicate that he was also involved in criminal activities in the occupied territories on Cyprus. By using his contacts he established in his police service, he managed to become a prominent leader in the underworld, acting as a “liaison” between Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
