Ήπειρος: εννέα συλλήψεις για ναρκωτικά σε μία εβδομάδα

Nine arrests in seven different drug cases were made within one week by the services of the General Regional Police Directorate of Epirus. According to the information released to the public, four people were arrested in Ioannina — three local men and one local woman — in Thesprotia three local people and in Arta two. No arrests were reported in Preveza, the fourth regional unit of Epirus, without this to mean that no checks were carried out in the area during the same period. Ioannina collects the largest number of cases in the region, a fact linked to the population and the student presence in the city.

Small amounts of raw cannabis and cocaine were found in the possession of those arrested. This characterization is important for the legal handling of the cases: when the quantities are small and there are no other indications of trafficking, the case is usually dealt with in the context of simple possession and not trafficking, with a clearly different framework of penalties. Case files were created for all cases, which were submitted to the competent prosecutorial authorities. All those arrested are presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the competent courts. The evaluation of the quantity is done by the prosecuting authorities based on the laboratory results and the other elements of the case file.

The police department reports that checks are carried out daily throughout Epirus, targeting both possession and trafficking, and that operations continue in all four regional units. The publication of consolidated weekly reports is a practice followed by most of the country’s regional police departments, in order to capture the overall picture without making public information that could lead to the identification of those involved or affect the progress of investigations. Weekly reports also allow for comparison with previous periods and are a public accountability tool for services.

Epirus is located in a geographical position with special characteristics, as it borders Albania and has the port of Igoumenitsa, one of the main connecting nodes with Italy. This week’s figures, however, concern only small quantities and cases of a local nature, without reference to organized trafficking or a cross-border dimension. Police did not release the ages or identities of those arrested, as is required for pending cases. More in the Police section. The police point out that checks are intensified during the summer months, when mobility increases in the coastal and mountainous regions of Epirus.