Greek police seize synthetic drugs worth millions, arrest 4

ATHENS, Greece – Greek authorities say they have broken an international ring that produced large quantities of a synthetic drug that is popular in the Arab world.

The financial crimes squad says a joint operation in the greater Athens region, involving its staff, police and coastguard officers, resulted in the seizure of 635,000 pills of a drug marketed under the brand name captagon.

Officers arrested two Greeks, a Turk and an Albanian, and are seeking three more suspects, including a retired Greek policeman.

Friday’s statement said it was the first captagon laboratory to be discovered in Greece. It said the confiscated pills have an estimated market value of 10 million euros ($10.5 million).

The drugs were believed to be destined for export, but it was unclear where.