Greece seizes €100m drugs from Syrian ship

Greek authorities announced on Friday that they have discovered a massive haul of drugs with an estimated street value exceeding 100 million euros on board a Syrian-flagged ship, Greek news agency AMNA reported.

The freighter "Noka" has been confiscated and was being held at the port of Heraklio on Crete island, according to a press announcement e-mailed by the Greek Coast Guard.

On board the vessel, Greek authorities discovered, hidden in containers, over six tons of hashish and about 3 million tablets of Captagon, a hallucinatory drug also known as the Jihadist drug, according to the announcement.

According to the Greek Coast Guard, "Noka" had set sail from Syria and was bound for Benghazi, Libya.

It was intercepted on Dec. 5 off the coasts of Crete in an operation conducted in cooperation with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex. The drugs were found after thorough investigation of the cargo.

The crew of 10 Syrian nationals and one Indian national denied all knowledge of the illegal cargo.

It is the largest quantity of Captagon tablets discovered in Greece.

In March 2017, Greek authorities had dismantled a criminal ring, which was manufacturing near Athens and trafficking the same synthetic amphetamine that has been associated with ISIS fighters in recent years.

During a raid on a narcotics lab, authorities discovered and seized 635,000 tablets of Captagon, with an estimated market value of 10 million euros.