Albanian drug ring broken
Police yesterday announced the arrest of six Albanians over the previous 10 days on charges of smuggling large quantities of drugs. Warrants were issued for another four people, two of whom are already serving sentences for drug offenses. Detectives said the gang operated on mafia principles, with many members related. Officers had been trying to break the gang over the last six months, starting with the arrest in August of two men with 469 kgs of unprocessed cannabis in a truck heading from Albania to Athens. On February 4, Thessaloniki police arrested Antonio and Yiannis Tomanikou, both 25, trying to sell drugs to an undercover officer. Five days later, in Kallithea, they arrested Alki Tomanikou, Tanas Gioni, Josif Tomanikou, Yiannis Bakas and Alket Mousai. In police raids in Stamata, Kifissia and Nea Halkidona on Tuesday night, police arrested Dimas’s kidnappers and a sixth man, Gligor Zouli.
