Greek authorities have dismantled a drug-trafficking ring accused of importing cocaine from Colombia hidden inside shipments of fresh roses, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue’s DEOS operational unit said.
Investigators allege the group run by Albanian drug lords carried out seven imports during eight months and brought 84 kilograms of cocaine from Bogota to Greece. A case file has been prepared for nine people, seven of whom were arrested.
Authorities said the imports were made through a shell company established in 2023. The company had no physical headquarters, no employees and a declared business activity unrelated to the flower trade.
A review of imports linked the company to seven rose shipments from Colombia during the past eight months. Investigators believe the first one or two shipments may have been test runs and say narcotics were concealed in later consignments.
To reduce the risk of detection, the group avoided direct imports from Colombia. Instead, the roses were first sent to Canada, where new shipping documents listed a Canadian sender and a flower shop in Artemida as the recipient. Authorities said the shop was fictitious and had been rented only days before the shipment’s arrival in Athens.
