Oxide

A 50-year-old businessman on Kos faced a prosecutor Monday for allegedly selling balloons containing nitrous oxide, more commonly known as laughing gas.
In a raid on a nightclub on the island run by the 50-year-old, police seized four ampoules of nitrous oxide, a funneling device and a large number of balloons.

Port authorities on the Ionian island of Corfu confiscated 55,400 8-gram canisters of laughing gas (nitrous oxide) on Wednesday.

According to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR), the canisters containing the gas also known as "hippy crack" - as well as balloons containing N2O - were found in a warehouse owned by an alcoholic drinks trader.

Police on the island of Crete arrested a 63-year-old man on Thursday on charges he was selling laughing gas (nitrous oxide) in his store.

He was nabbed after police raided his store in the tourist resort of Hersonisos and found almost 675 ampules and 910 balloons containing the gas.

The raid was part of a crackdown on the drug across the island, especially in resort areas.

Authorities on the Ionian island of Zakynthos said on Tuesday they had arrested two shop owners for illegally selling nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, in small vials.

Three people, including a British national, were arrested on Monday morning on Zakynthos for selling nitrous oxide, commonly referred to as laughing gas.

One of suspects was found to be in possession of nearly 1,500 canisters of the substance.

Laughing gas is illegal for recreational use, but has recently grown in popularity among young party-goers.

Thessaloniki prosecutor Eleftherios Michailidis asked Monday for the police to step up a crackdown on laughing gas. The sale of small canisters of nitrous oxide has become very popular among young people, particularly on some Greek islands.

The European Union renewed for another five years a tariff against South Africa on a material for consumer batteries, saying Greek producer Tosoh Hellas AIC and Spain’s Cegasa Internacional SA need longer protection.

The EU reimposed the 17.1 percent duty on imports of electrolytic manganese dioxide from South Africa.