Cocaine

A police officer in Thessaloniki was relieved of duty on Thursday pending an investigation into his alleged violation of drug laws and a breach of duty.

The suspect, whose initials are M.B., carried a South African passport at the time.

A stricken boat and a huge haul of cocaine in Romania have thrown a spotlight on how drug traffickers are increasingly ferrying cocaine into Europe along a Balkan path used for years by heroin smugglers.

A little over 25 kg is the amount of cocaine found near Varna. Washed ashore on the beach in front of the Marina Hotel in the Slanchev Den complex, it was reported on 112 at 5 pm yesterday by construction workers, the Ministry of Interior's regional directorate deputy head, Andrey Angelov, said at a briefing today, quoted by Focus Radio.

In the Black Sea we have found five consignments of cocaine wrapped in waterproof material and a lifejacket to stay afloat, Minister of Interior Mladen Marinov said at the beginning of today's government meeting, Focus News Agency reports. "So far we have seized about 170 kg of high-quality cocaine.

Two Nigerian nationals have been arrested upon a court order on charges of carrying over 8 kilograms of cocaine at Istanbul Atatürk Airport.

The drugs were hidden on a boat that capsized in the Danube Delta in eastern Romania.

Turkish police have seized 185 kilograms (408 pounds) of cocaine in an operation in Istanbul, an official said on March 4.

These gangs, also known as "Mafia Shqiptare", have slowly take over the market in this country "after steadily moving into the country after the fall of communism in Albania in 1990."

Egypt detained a Turkish man and a German woman for drug smuggling after they flew in to Cairo international airport carrying 11 kilograms of cocaine. (File photo)