Illegal drug trade

Greek authorities investigating a large haul of Captagon pills seized from a container ship at Piraeus port said on Tuesday they have so far counted more than 5 million items.

The drugs were stashed inside 540 lead plates, most each of which contained about 10,000 pills.

Greek authorities have launched an investigation in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts after customs officials at Piraeus port on Monday found a large quantity of fenethylline pills - also known as the "Jihadist's" drug - in a container ship.

The vessel had docked at Piraeus on its way from Syria to Dubai.

Police near the Krystallopigi border crossing in Florina, northern Greece, have intercepted a vehicle carrying a large quantity of illegal drugs into Greece, it was announced on Friday.

Greece has seized drugs worth more than 100 million euros ($113 million) after intercepting a Syrian ship sailing for Libya, the coast guard said on Friday.

Officials found about six tonnes of processed cannabis and 3 million super-strength "Captagon" amphetamine pills hidden aboard the Syrian-flagged "Noka", it said in a statement.

Police in Thessaloniki detained nine suspected members of a drug trafficking ring on Friday.

The arrests of five foreign nationals and four Greeks aged between 28 and 64 were carried out in different parts of the northern port city.

The Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) has once more called on authorities to crack down on rampant drug dealing and drug use in the institution's neighboring areas.

AUEB suspended its operations for a day earlier this month in protest at the situation, following a decision by the senate.

Police seized a total of 1.96 million illicit drug pills in an operation in the southern coastal city of Mersin, Demirören News Agency reported.

Professors at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUT) co-authored a document to protest against rampant drug dealing inside the premises of the institution.

The document, published on Monday, calls on authorities to take immediate measures to remove drug traffickers operating freely in the campus.

Some 965,000 illicit drug pills were seized in the southern province of Adana on a Saudi Arabian cargo plane, a statement by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said on Oct. 11.

Bulgarian customs officials have seized 712kg of heroin from inside two Iranian trucks entering Bulgaria from Turkey.

Officials on Friday valued the record heroin haul at NZ million.

The drugs were found in two Iran-registered trucks at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Turkish border.

They were carrying construction materials and were bound for Austria.