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Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking

Updated 4 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-02 10:48 UTC → 2026-08-03 11:42 UTC · added removed

Since mid‑June 2026, 2026 Greek police have conducted intensified a wave series of operations against organised crime in coordinated raids across northern Greece. Raids Greece targeting organised crime, illegal migration, waste‑management violations and human‑trafficking. Early‑June arrests in Chalkidiki, Kilkis, Kilkis and Pella included a littering offence, the seizure of two foreign adults, a child and Thessaloniki disrupted drug networks, a vehicle used for illegal migration routes migration, and a vehicle‑theft rings. A attempt; in Thessaloniki a foreign suspect was caught with 11.8 g of cocaine and a Greek accomplice with 0.9 g. In early July inspection police shut down an unlicensed waste‑recycling plant in Thessaloniki and led to the arrest of scrap‑metal operation in Kalochori, Thessaloniki, arresting its manager and two accomplices for illegal medical‑waste dumping. Police dismantled a vehicle‑theft syndicate operating without permits and forging documents. A July‑9 investigation in Ptolemaida and, on solved three vehicle‑theft cases, recovered a hidden car and linked the thieves to credit‑card fraud. In Attica, two Albanian men were arrested for a series of at least 15 beach‑parking thefts, stealing valuables including a €12 000 Rolex. On 11 July, detained July three foreign drivers in Evros were detained on the Ormenio‑Ardani, Alexandroupoli‑Komotini and Kípon‑Alexandroupoli roads for moving 13 transporting undocumented migrants, seizing migrants; their vehicles and phones. phones were seized. A fire at the FMS recycling plant in Larissa on 10 July raised fine particulate matter, with arson suspected. On 13 July, waste‑dumping offenders were caught in Aspropyrgos and a cash‑theft from suspected arson, caused a company vehicle uncovered in Peristeri, resulting in arrests and seizure of cash and equipment. A break‑in gang posing as technical workers was broken up in Athens suburbs. Coordinated raids on 25 July temporary rise in Evros arrested three migrant‑trafficking suspects after they transported 17 illegal migrants; their vehicles and phones were confiscated. Border Guard units of Alexandroupoli and Orestiada, together with Frontex officers, seized multiple migrants on highways and rural roads, all referred to prosecutors. On 31 July, fine particulate matter. The same day police in Xanthi detained stopped three suspects after a foreign woman reported forced sexual services persons dumping solid waste in a local shop, leading to charges of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, procuring, attempted rape and weapons violations. Aspropyrgos. On 31 July 2026, a coordinated operation by the and again on 1 August, investigations in Eordaia Crime Investigation Department and the Kozani Crime Suppression Team wider Macedonia region uncovered a human‑trafficking and labour‑exploitation network exploiting 57 foreign nationals in Eordaia and Florina. Police arrested a 51‑year‑old foreign suspect identified as the ring’s head, seized migrants, seizing €4,360, handwritten notes, a debt‑statement document and a mobile phone, debt records and filed charges arresting one of human trafficking, criminal organization and alien‑law violations. A second suspect remains at large. the two 51‑year‑old foreign ringleaders.

Versions

  1. 2026-08-03 11:42 UTC Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking
  2. 2026-08-02 10:48 UTC Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking
  3. 2026-08-01 12:27 UTC Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking
  4. 2026-08-01 09:27 UTC Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking
  5. 2026-07-31 21:28 UTC Greek police target smuggling, waste, trafficking

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