Mykonos: drug bust with 4.4 kg of cannabis, two arrests

Two men aged 23, one Greek and one foreign national, were arrested in Mykonos on Monday 10 August by officers of the Mykonos Police Subdivision. According to an announcement by the Greek Police, they were charged with felony drug trafficking in conspiracy, meaning joint commission of the act.

The two young men, as emerged from the investigation, have been operating since mid-July. They moved around on motorcycles and supplied users at various points on the island, without a fixed meeting point. This method, frequently observed in island destinations with intense nightlife, makes detection difficult, as it does not create a fixed trafficking pattern. The island’s services had to combine complaints, observation and movement tracking for several weeks before reaching a targeted operation.

The arrest was the result of a targeted operation preceded by field surveillance. Officers investigated the residence the two men used as storage space, as well as their vehicles, finding significant quantities of substances in different stages of packaging: from large bulk packages to ready-made small packages for immediate distribution.

4,404 grams of raw cannabis were seized in six packages, 540 grams of cocaine in three packages, 211.7 grams of cannabis in 43 small packages, 78 grams of pink cocaine in eleven small packages and 69.8 grams of cocaine in 63 small packages. This is altogether more than five kilograms of narcotics, an unusual quantity for the data of an island with Mykonos’s population outside the tourist season. Pink cocaine, also known as tusi, appears increasingly frequently in recent years’ seizures.

21,800 euros in cash, two mobile phones, precision scales and the two motorcycles were also found and seized. The amount of cash, combined with the number of ready-made small packages, is a key element of the case, as it is associated with the claim that it was commercial and not personal use. The precision scales are also considered indicative, as they are used to divide quantities into doses for sale.

The packaging method is precisely the element on which the felony character of the case rests, as it points to organized retail distribution. The two arrested men were taken to the Prosecutor of the District Court of Syros. The charges remain at the preliminary examination stage and the presumption of innocence applies until the issuance of an irrevocable judicial decision.

The case falls within the special operational actions of the police services of the South Aegean against drug trafficking, which have intensified during the tourist season. Only in the last ten days Mykonos recorded five arrests for drugs in one day and the arrest of a 26-year-old with MDMA and ketamine.