Albanian officer detained at border
Police in the northern prefecture of Thesprotia on Friday detained a 35-year-old Albanian border control officer as well as the manager of a duty free store in the small town of Mavromati after an inspection on the vehicle of the former turned up hundreds of packets of duty-free cigarettes and a check on his identity revealed that he was banned from entering the country more than a decade ago.
The 35-year-old is to face multiple charges, including illegal entry into Greece, as the vehicle he had been driving bore stolen Greek diplomatic license plates and he was found to carrying a forged driving license and a loaded pistol.
The Albanian is believed to have collected 2,500 packets of duty-free cigarettes, without a receipt, from the Mavromati store after reaching an understanding with the 47-year-old manager of the store. Police detained the two men as well as two Greek women, aged 29 and 37, who are employees at the store.
The Albanian suspect has been banned from entering the country since June 1999 when he was deported.
