A cocaine trafficking and distribution ring in Mykonos, Greece, has been busted by local authorities. They were using transport companies to hide their activities and launder illegally obtained money.
9 people were arrested, Albanians, Greeks and Turks. They were the owners of 3 companies that, with their vans, undertook the transportation of visitors to destinations within the island.
"As a means of concealing their illegal activity on the island of Mykonos, they use transport companies that are active in transporting tourists and visitors to the island," a statement from a Greek prosecutor's office said.
Through this activity they managed, (in addition to legalizing money from drug trafficking), to find clients among tourists and move comfortably to every corner of the island, without arousing suspicion. "Through this professional activity, members of the organization establish direct contact with a large number of foreign or local visitors to the island."
As part of the investigation, the police seized, in addition to drugs and cash, 7 vans belonging to freight forwarding companies owned by people involved in the network.
How was the group discovered?
In early July, police received information about a criminal organization that trafficked drugs, mainly cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy pills and hashish in Attica and Mykonos. The same source identified a non-Greek person with the nickname "ISA". His phone was tapped and the police managed to identify and arrest 9 people as members of the trafficking network.
They sold 1 gram of "regular" cocaine for 120-150 euros, a gram of so-called "pink" cocaine for 170-200 euros, a gram of the substance MDMA for 60-80 euros and so on.
During police raids on August 21, dozens of grams of drugs of all types were seized, as well as significant amounts of money, which, according to the police, came from drug trafficking.
However, in his testimony, the police officer who led the investigations noted that the members of the organization "were not limited to using cash for the sale of drugs. They also used electronic POS payment instruments, Revolut and IRIS platform accounts, with the aim of facilitating their clients and achieving money laundering by justifying the transaction as a legitimate activity by providing transfer services."
In their phone conversations, members of the network used coded words and phrases when referring to the drug. When referring to pink cocaine, they used words and phrases such as "lachmatzoun," "pink garnish," "colored," and "secret recipe."
They referred to cocaine with phrases and words such as "classic," "egg," "girl," and so on. "They were so careful in their phone conversations that when a member broke the communication code, they would immediately stop communicating."
– "You also have… on… the instrument panel in front, there in the dashboard compartment...".
– “Yes.”
– "You have two more lakmans. They are in... in the game..."
– “Yes.”
– "Keep your mind... Just keep your mind, like this. Keep it mentally," - two people who are being prosecuted as members of the criminal organization are heard saying in a conversation with each other, on the evening of July 19.
The statements of the 9 defendants before the investigator are scheduled for next Thursday. ©LAPSI.al
