A Russian couple and a 32-year-old Greek man were charged with possessing, manufacturing and dealing drugs by a prosecutor yesterday after police raided an ecstasy laboratory in the basement of an Athens apartment block.

Acting on a tip-off, officers stopped and searched the three suspects, Themistoklis Roupakias and two unnamed 32-year old Russians, on Saturday morning. They found an ecstasy tablet and three vials of an unidentified powder in their possession. Police then raided the Greek man’s apartment in the eastern suburb of Vyronas.

They found a range of drug-making equipment in the basement and several substances, including ephedrine, which were sent for further tests. Officers said that Roupakis had bought the substances and was following instructions from a manual on how to make ecstasy. The arrests came just days after the biggest seizure of ecstasy in Greece (100,000 pills) during a double raid in Myconos and Thessaloniki.