Apostolos Vavilis, a drug dealer thought to have unique insight into shady deals involving the Church of Greece, the police and foreign secret services, is due back in the country in a matter of days after Italian authorities approved his extradition, the fugitive’s lawyer told Kathimerini yesterday.

“My client is relieved and his parents are happy that, at least, they will be able to visit him in Korydallos (Prison),” Yiannis Vlachos said, adding that Vavilis’s return “will facilitate the work of investigating magistrates.”

Vavilis, who has been serving a seven-year jail sentence for heroin smuggling in an Italian jail since his arrest in Bologna last April, is due to face a series of criminal and misdemeanor charges upon his return to Greece. These include forgery, false impersonation, breach of state secrets, fraud, embezzlement, theft, perjury and defamation.

As regards Vavilis’s alleged connection to foreign secret services, Vlachos maintained that “there is no proof of his involvement in such affairs,” adding that his client “is a victim of the system.”