A 52-year-old Greek citizen of Albanian origin was arrested following many months of cooperation between the Drug Prosecution Department of the Operational Directorate of the Greek internal revenue service (SDOE) Attica with the corresponding Dutch authorities.

The man, who is believed to be the mastermind of a large drug cartel was located and arrested in Glyfada and was wanted on a European Arrest Warrant as a managing member of a criminal organisation that deals with the collection and distribution of large sums of money in the Netherlands from the illegal narcotics trade.

As announced by the Ministry of Finance, the criminal organisation trafficked on a daily basis, through an “underground” banking system with the use of encrypted communications, large sums of money and it is estimated that for a period of about 10 months, amounts of the order of 250,000,000 euros were trafficked.

In a search conducted at the residence of the suspect, sums of money in banknotes from various countries were found and seized, including Euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Turkish Lira, United Arab Emirates Dirhams and South African Rand.

Authorities also confiscated mobile phones, including a mobile phone used for encrypted conversations through special applications, a tablet, a digital disc, and SIM cards.

The Operational Directorate of S.D.O.E. Attica continues to cooperate with the respective Dutch Authorities and with the competent Judicial Authorities of the country, as there are reasonable suspicions of money laundering in Greece from criminal activities.