Greek police arrested an Algerian man suspected of smuggling tablets of pain-fighting drug pregabalin to France from Greece, following an operation with French authorities and EU police agency Europol.
Police officers stand guard outside the Greek police headquarters in Athens, Reuters/Giorgos Moutafis
Greek police arrested an Algerian man suspected of smuggling tablets of pain-fighting drug pregabalin to France from Greece, following an operation with French authorities and EU police agency Europol.
The 28-year-old obtained drugs containing pregabalin from pharmacies in Greece and shipped them to Paris and other French cities over the past three years, police said on Wednesday. The anti-seizure drug is used to treat epilepsy and anxiety and can cause relaxation and euphoria.
The man was arrested in Athens this week as he was trying to send a package of more than 3,300 of the tablets, a police statement said. At least 55 such drug shipments have been confirmed since 2021, a police official said.
French police also arrested a man alleged to be the receiver of the packages, the official added.
In March, the Greek coast guard confiscated a British-flagged boat loaded with nearly four million pregabalin tablets, after a tip-off from Greece's intelligence service about drug-smuggling rings operating in the country.
Reporting by Yannis Souliotis and Renee Maltezou
Algeria decided to sever diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates after what it described as the "exhaustion of all means to preserve bilateral ties", Algerian state media said on Thursday, without giving details of the reason for the move.
Algeria will convert a military barracks in the Tanezrouft desert, one of the world's most inhospitable regions, into a high-security prison for drug traffickers, the Algerian presidency announced Thursday.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, whose country has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 1993, announced Monday his intention to reinstate its application against arsonists, following deadly wildfires that ravaged eastern and northern Algeria.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.