One of Greece’s most notorious drug barons, Alexandros Angelopoulos, could soon have seven ships that he used to traffic large amounts of cocaine returned to him, even though he is serving a life sentence in jail, sources told Kathimerini yesterday.

Lawyers representing Angelopoulos, nicknamed the Fat Man, have asked a Piraeus court to return the vessels, arguing that they were obtained before he was arrested for drug trafficking and had nothing to do with his illegal activity.

Angelopoulos was arrested in 2004 after a Belize-flagged trawler, the Africa 1, that he owned was seized off the coast of Spain with 5.4 tons of cocaine on board.

A council of Piraeus court judges has referred the request for the seven ships to be returned to the Supreme Court. Sources said that the Supreme Court prosecutor is likely to ask the judges to reverse the confiscation of the convict’s vessels.