Authorities in Piraeus have broken an international ring that smuggled large quantities of cocaine to Western Europe through Greece in battered cars that were loaded on bogus road assistance trucks, police said on Saturday.

Working on a tip-off from Belgian officials, and after placing a Piraeus warehouse under surveillance, police detained four men — two Belgians, a Dutchman and an Italian — who were charged with drug smuggling on Saturday.

The suspects were arrested in the warehouse in possession of a total 33 kilos of cocaine. Police said the drugs were to have been concealed in a special cache in the truck and in old cars that the gang planned to load onto the heavy vehicle before sending it to Western Europe.

Meanwhile in Thessaloniki, an Albanian was arrested on Saturday trying to sell five kilos of hashish and a small quantity of cocaine to an undercover police officer.