Seized tug with six tons of hashish, found to contain six more tons
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
More than 12 tonnes of processed cannabis (hashish) was being transported on the tug the "Andreas" when it was identified and seized in December 2017 south of Crete after a coast guard operation.
Initially, in December 2017, 6 tonnes 177 kilos and 800 grams of cannabis had been seized on the tugboat, and the six-meber Syrian crew were taken into custody. According to information, the crew members had agreed with a Cypriot agent whose details are known to the authorities to be paid $ 600 a month in order to crew the tug to take it to a shipyard Malta.
The crew consisted of the captain, who allegedly had a fake tug captain certificate, two mechanics, and three sailors. The coast guard's suspicions that the particular tug - which was to be auctioned by ODDY and transported to a UK port for sale to UK-based company - had something amiss with documentation but also with its fuel tanks, led to a new thorough investigation.
A squad of the Coast Guard and the Narcotics Directorate of the Coast Guard Headquarters traveled again to Crete, and during a search, a manhole was found under a tile in a narrow corridor.
When they opened it, they found that it hid another 6 tons 561 kilos and 700 grams of processed cannabis as well as 258,000 captagon tablets (the so-called jihadist pills). This is the largest quantity of processed cannabis (hashish) seized in Greece so far. The total estimated value of drugs is EUR 150 million.
