Hashish gang used butcher’s as front
A Greek-Albanian drug-trafficking ring that brought over a ton of hashish into the country and apparently laundered its proceeds through a Thessaloniki butcher shop was broken yesterday, police said. Following an undercover operation in which an officer arranged to buy 400 kilos of hashish from gang members, police confiscated 670 kilos of the drug in a house belonging to Constantinos Kehayias, 43. Kehayias was arrested, along with Sophocles Sariyiannis, 31, who led the officer to the house at Neo Rysio, on the southeastern outskirts of Thessaloniki. Police believe the gang, which, according to Thessaloniki Security Police Chief Giorgos Kokkinis, is one of the biggest and most dangerous of its kind, was run by Albanian national Jani Morava, 34, who also runs an international transport company in Albania. Morava’s 20-year-old brother, Edri – who managed a Thessaloniki butcher shop that Kokkinis believes was used to launder drug trade proceeds – was also arrested. The gang had recently sold 300 kilos of hashish on the Greek market, while another 400 kilos were initially destined for Britain.
