Otologicals

Two Brazilian women, aged 23 and 24, were arrested at Athens International Airport on Sunday evening for trying to smuggle more that than 1.8 kilos of cocaine into the country, authorities said on Wednesday.

According to police, the women had swallowed 185 small packages containing a total of 1,845 grams.  They had arrived in Athens from Sao Paolo in Brazil via Lisbon.

Chinese police have seized 1.3 tons of cocaine from South America in the country's biggest ever haul of the drug, authorities said.

A police investigation has shed light into a clash between drug and arms dealers and anarchists in the central Athens neighborhood of Exarchia, Kathimerini has learned. 

Meanwhile 29 Greek and Albanian nationals are to face charges in the wake of a major police crackdown in the area. 

The Colombian navy said Tuesday it has seized a massive shipment of cocaine in the northwest of Colombia.

According to the navy, 5.2 metric tons of the illicit drugs were found in a shipment of bananas in a port in the Uraba region after a tip from the Police.

The bananas were meant to be shipped to Europe.

Italian authorities have seized some 300 kilograms of cocaine from a Greek commercial vessel at the port of Genoa, Italian media reports said on Friday.

According to sources, the Malta-flagged Dimitris C container ship stopped at ports in Colombia and Spain before reaching Italy. The drugs were found in 20 plastic bags.

A ton and a half of cocaine, hidden in a bag of chocolate powder, was captured at an Ecuador airport before it was sent to Europe, authorities said.

"This 1500kg of cocaine mixed with chocolate products was about to be sent to Austria," the police wrote on twitter after the capture of the drug at Guayaquil.

Authorities in Serbia have arrested three Australian citizens as part of a joint investigation with Australian police in connection with the second-largest seizure of cocaine in Australia's history.

The three men were arrested in a Belgrade hotel lobby on January 18 with a bag containing 620,00 euros ($784,000) and thousands of dollars in various currencies from Asia and Europe.

Thy are suspected of being members of an organized crime group that is involved in cocaine smuggling.

According to the the MUP, the arrests were carried out in cooperation with the Organized Crime Prosecution, and came after an investigation that lasted nine months, during which the Serbian police worked with Australian authorities.

Drivers competing in the Dakar Rally were greeted with wreaths made of coca leaves, which help combat altitude sickness and are also used as the raw ingredient in cocaine, as they entered the Andean country of Bolivia on Jan. 11.

Nine foreign backpackers, including five from France, were rushed to hospital in various states of “agitated delirium” after ingesting a travel sickness drug they mistook for cocaine and falling seriously ill, Australian authorities and reports said.