Preveza

Authorities in northwestern Greece confiscated 442 kilos of cannabis that were smuggled into the country on a speedboat from neighboring Albania early Thursday morning.

According to reports, the bust was made after police in the coastal town of Preveza were tipped off about an imminent arrival of drugs from the Albanian coast via sea.

The local branches of conservation groups WWF and Greenpeace have called upon Greek lawmakers to vote against an Environment Ministry bill green-lighting hydrocarbon exploration and extraction in Block 2 of the Ionian Sea, as well as the onshore blocks Arta-Preveza, Aitoloacarnania, and Northwestern Peloponnese.

Two foreign nationals were arrested on Friday by coast guard officials in Igoumenitsa, western Greece, for attempting to smuggle heroin to Ancona in Italy.

The a 72-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man were detained after sniffer dogs located 9 kilos of heroin in their car before it could be driven onto the Ancona-bound ferry boat.

Unknown assailants blew up an ATM in Preveza, northwestern Greece early on Thursday before making a getaway in a stolen car with an undisclosed amount of money, local reports said.

According to police, the incident took place at around 4 a.m. in the area of Kanallaki. The car was later found abandoned.

Firefighters in Nea Sampsounta in Preveza, northwestern Greece, were struggling on Wednesday to contain a blaze that had already razed a factory and several greenhouses.

The fire started shortly after 11 a.m. on the national highway between Preveza and Arta, and within an hour had consumed a local plant manufacturing pasta and several greenhouses in the area.

The government has sought to end speculation that Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos will be removed from his post as part of an imminent cabinet reshuffle.

Resorting to humor, the prime minister's office said that "Tsakalotos must move from Preveza where he is taking his holidays" and come back to Athens to assume his duties as finance minister.

Celebrated Belgian minimalist composer Wim Mertens is coming to Athens for a single show in Sunday, July 30, on the invitation of the Greek Festival. The performance at the Herod Atticus Theater will feature "Dust of Truths," the third and final part of "Cran aux Oeufs," inspired by the a solo show in 2014 at the monument of Octavian Augustus in Nicopolis in Epirus.

Eight foreign oil and petrol companies have expressed interest in collaborating with Hellenic Petroleum Group, revealed the company’s general manager of exploration and production Yiannis Grigoriou, Wednesday. Total, Shell, Repsol, Japex, Dana Petroleum, INA and Hunt are in talks with ELPE to start hydrocarbon exploration in the areas of Arta-Preveza and the north-eastern Peloponnese.

Police said they confiscated 143 kilos of cannabis during two separate operations in northwestern Greece.

A 29-year-old Albanian national was arrested on Friday after police found 16 kilos of cannabis hidden in his car.

The arrest took place after officers stopped the car on the Preveza-Igoumenitsa national road.

ATHEX blue chip company Hellenic Petroleum is the bidder selected for the concession of Block 10 in the Gulf of Kyparissia, west of the Peloponnese, for surveying for and utilization of hydrocarbons in the area, according to a statement by the Environment and Energy Ministry on Tuesday.