In Brief
DRUG TRADE
Active Attica dealers caught; large cocaine haul at airport Police from Attica’s narcotics unit yesterday detained a 43-year-old Tanzanian national and a 34-year-old Ethiopian man in Piraeus after confiscating nearly 200,000 euros in suspected drug-related profits from them. The officers said that they seized 66 grams of cocaine and weighing scales along with the cash but noted that the suspects are believed to have been dealing drugs in much larger quantities. In a related development yesterday, police at Athens International Airport arrested a man and woman, both Brazilian, after finding 2.2 kilograms of cocaine in their luggage. Police had been tipped off about the couple by Swiss customs authorities. RAIL SABOTAGE Roma ring held for cable theft A group of Roma – three men aged 21, 24 and 36 and a woman aged 20 – faced an Athens prosecutor yesterday accused of sabotaging the national railway network and endangering human life, as they are alleged to have removed lengths of copper electricity cable and sold it. According to officers, the suspects formed part of a ring that cut overhead cables before loading them onto trucks and sending them into Attica for sale to scrap traders. Police said that the activities of the ring members, who chose inaccessible parts of the railway network to avoid detection, had posed a significant risk. Tourists rescued Two Spanish women, aged 25 and 26, were in good health yesterday after being rescued by Cretan firemen from an inaccessible spot near Sougia, in the island’s west, where they had become trapped during a mountain hike. According to Haralambos Koukianakis, the head of civil protection for Sougia prefecture, the women had telephoned the European emergency number 112 for help from one of their cell phones but their directions had been vague and rescue workers needed several hours to find them. When they located them, the women had run out of water and their cell phone batteries had died. Koukianakis appealed to tourists to take all necessary precautionary measures when going on expeditions. Turkish violations A formation of eight Turkish fighter jets entered Greek air space yesterday in the latest violation to take place over the northern Aegean this week. Shortly after the air space transgression at 5 a.m., four jets flew at low altitude over the small island of Agathonisi. PASOK’s spokesperson on foreign policy, Andreas Loverdos, reacted to the incursions by criticizing the government for having no efficient policy vis-a-vis Ankara. No flights The British High Court yesterday overruled an appeal by Cyprus Turkish Airlines and tour operator CTA Holidays against a ban on conducting flights between Great Britain and the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus. Cypriot Minister for Communications and Works Nicos Nicolaides welcomed the decision, saying it showed that Turkey’s occupation did not eradicate the legal rights of the Republic of Cyprus.
