A criminal organization in Chania and Rethymno involved in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, and extortion was dismantled after an eight-month undercover investigation, with authorities seizing drugs, heavy weaponry, and cash, according to Kathimerini.
The investigation included lifting the secrecy of suspects’ phone communications, physical surveillance, and investigative infiltration.
So far, 48 people have been arrested and 16 have already been remanded in custody on separate cases now linked under the same probe. Among the members are two officers, an archimandrite, two permanent non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces, a hotel owner in Chania and his brother.
Among the defendants are also those responsible for a 2024 bombing attack against a police officer of the anti-drug unit in Chania, who had arrested members of the gang.
The two are believed to have played a key role in the organization. A gym owner in Kolymvari is also implicated.
Members of the ring also included three men arrested on August 21 in Chania for possession of seven kilos of cannabis. Police additionally seized shotguns, military mortars, and €7,000 in cash. During the operation, two police officers were injured.
Meanwhile, in the course of the investigation into the group’s activities and through phone surveillance, around ten cases of criminal interest emerged, unrelated to the core of the organization’s operations, mostly involving clergymen.
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