Heroin

Two men have been arrested in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on drug-related charges, as a third suspect was identified and being sought.

According to a police announcement on Tuesday, the suspects, aged 26 and 51 respectively, are thought to be responsible for keeping, distributing and dealing drugs for a gang headed by the third man.  

In just one week, 10 people died in Varna after using heroin, to which the hundred times more powerful synthetic fentanyl was added. The data is unofficial and was reported to Bulgarian media "Dnevnik" by two independent addiction treatment centers - "Just today" and "Change is life".

Police in Piraeus have arrested a 31-year-old non-national for the possession, adulteration and trafficking of heroin.

A search of the man's home yielded a laboratory for the adulteration and processing of heroin was found.

Police officers in northern Greece arrested two people from drug trafficking on Tuesday night after discovering more than 12 kilos of heroin in their car.

The suspects, a 33-year-old foreign national, believed to be a leading member of a bigger drug ring, and a 27-year-old Greek woman, believed to be a member of the gang, where stopped at the Malgara toll station, near Thessaloniki. 

A drug smuggler wanted by Interpol with a red notice, Urfi Çetinkaya, has been detained in a villa in Istanbul's Sarıyer district along with five other people.

Istanbul police's anti-terror unit raided the villa with the support of special operations team on late April 11. He was then taken to the police station after a health check.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou participated in the action of the Streetwork group of the Organization Against Drugs (OKANA) in central Athens on Monday. The team distributed safer use kits to drug users on the street as well as a Covid-19 personal protection kit, a snack and clothing.

The "Balkan route," including Türkiye, is of vital importance in opiate trafficking as it is the most frequently used route for smuggling heroin and morphine, according to a recent report from the police's anti-narcotic unit.

The average age of drug usage has decreased to as low as 16 in Turkey, a study that sheds light on how first-time drug users develop the habit has shown.

Four men believed to be members of a drug distribution crew have been charged in the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams five months ago, authorities said on Feb. 2.

Austria's public broadcaster ORF, in a news report on Sunday, said the amount of hard drugs coming from the Balkans to Austria had dramatically increased recently, making effective control of the Austria-Slovenia border region of Carinthia hard to handle for law enforcement.