Alkaloids

Researchers from the University of Athens who spearheaded a successful clinical trial into the effects of colchicine in the prevention of complications caused by Covid-19, have teamed up with colleagues at Yale to carry on studying the benefits of the anti-inflammatory drug that was recently approved in Greece and other countries for treating the novel coronavirus.

The Greek committee of experts advising the government on the pandemic approved the use of colchicine, an inexpensive drug for treating gout, to be included in the protocol of patients with Covid-19, following the results of a Canadian study in which Greece participated.

The three men arrested earlier this week in Voula, southern Athens, after 233 kilos of cocaine were found in a rented home were remanded in custody on Friday.

Of the three suspects, only the Greek man spoke before a prosecutor, denying that he was involved in drugs trafficking.

The other two men, a Mexican and a Colombian-born Canadian, chose not to make any statements.

Around 130kg of heroin and 30kg of cocaine were seized in operations of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS) in the first six months of 2014.

The authorities seized over 54kg of marijuana in the first half of 2014, according to the Bulgarian National Radio.

Guards at the Evzones crossing on Greece's border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old man after he was found carrying nearly 4 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his luggage.

BELGRADE - The Interior Ministry of the Republic of Serbia (MUP) has formed the Working group in charge of examining the allegations voiced by defendant Darko Saric at the trial on the indictment charging him with smuggling 5.7 tons of cocaine.

MUP ordered to look into Šarić's allegations

BELGRADE -- The Organized Crime Prosecution has asked the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) to check the allegations presented during his trial on Monday by Darko Šarić.

Two tonnes of drugs have been confiscated in Bulgaria since the beginning of 2014, according to Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Svetlozar Lazarov.

Lazarov announced at a Thursday press conference that the authorities had seized 35kg of heroin bound for Western Europe at the Silistra border crossing on April 14.

Narcotics officers at Athens International Airport on Friday arrested a 39-year-old Nigerian national after discovering an ingenious cache of drugs.

According to a police report, the 39-year-old, who had arrived at the Greek capital via Cairo, had concealed 1.74 kilogram of cocaine inside the metallic tubes that comprised the handle of his rolling suitcase.

A new cocaine route for Europe goes through Bulgaria said the National Addictions and Drugs Center. 

According to its director Momchil Vasilev, in the past two years through Bulgaria was established a new drug channel, which takes cocaine from South America via Western Africa through Greece and Bulgaria, for Western Europe.