The Directorate of Economic Police, with the assistance of the Sub-Directorate of the Economic Police of Northern Greece, dismantled in the early hours of yesterday, Thursday, March 21, a transnational criminal organization, whose members trafficked and possessed illegal anabolic steroids, pharmaceutical preparations and raw cannabis, both in Greece and abroad.
A total of -5- people were arrested for the case and a case file was filed against them for -as the case may be- forming and joining a criminal organization, violation of sports legislation, harmful drugs, forgery, money laundering, weapons, drugs and breach of personal data .
It was preceded by a multi-month investigation, in cooperation with Europol, the National Medicines Agency and the National Anti-Doping Agency, from which it emerged that the members of the organization, at least since April 2018, acting methodically, procured from abroad and trafficked further preparations that contained illegal and prohibited anabolic substances, to improve the competitive ability and performance of athletes and the physical condition of athletes.
At the same time, they also had for sale other preparations for dealing with side effects (treating erectile dysfunction, etc.), while they concealed and sought to legalize the income from their illegal activity, through financial companies abroad.
As it emerged from the research, in order to ensure their illegal activity and to avoid their identification by the authorities, they used specific methods, namely:
• television-camera systems were installed in the places where the illegal drugs were stored,
• for the trafficking of the substances they used a gym and a store selling nutritional supplements, owned by members of the organization,
• they used fake packaging with information from legitimate pharmaceutical companies, as well as fake E.O.F. authenticity tapes, while
• for the sending of the parcels they declared false details of the sender and addresses.
In order to end their action, a coordinated police operation was carried out in the early hours of yesterday, Thursday, March 21, 2024, during which -5- members of the organization were arrested, while in searches carried out, in the presence of judicial officers, in homes, businesses, and vehicles in Giannitsa, Veria, Halkidiki, Larissa and Argos, among others, were found and confiscated:
• more than -22,000- tablets – ampoules that contained anabolic and other illegal medicinal substances,
• -21- packages with prohibited preparations,
• -773.6- grams of raw cannabis,
• quantity of narcotic tablets,
• -2- pistols,
• revolver,
• stun gun,
• flobert rifle,
• -131- cartridges,
• -2- cameras,
• -6,740- euros,
• -6- mobile and
• a number of handwritten notes.
The arrested persons, with the case filed against them, were taken to the competent prosecutor’s office.
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