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A massive police operation broke up a criminal gang distributing and selling drugs in Thessaloniki, Volos and Agrinio. A total of 35 people were arrested. Charges have been brought against 27 of them and five have been released with restrictions on leaving the country. The indictment defines the five people discharged conditionally by the start of the trial as addicts rather than as involved in the trade.

Three Greek policemen and two Albanian citizens are considered to be the leaders of the organization. The police state that prosecutors have overwhelming evidence collected during the investigation to convict the guilty. The investigation started a year ago after a signal that officials were involved in the illegal trade and found out that the goods had been coming from neighbouring Albania.  Romas from the Dendropotamos neighbourhood in Thessaloniki were distributing them with the protection of policemen.

During the investigation, the criminal gang distributed 400 kg of hashish, 30 kg of heroin and 1 kg of cocaine. To establish the connection between the members, the prosecution began to record the conversations of senior police officials who had been found to be in touch with the drug dealers. The code names used for the drugs were "tomatoes", "milk", "straw", "hay", "clover", "candies", "cheese", "spare parts", "tyres" and "CD thriller."
 
One of the records proves how the head of the department combating drugs in Volos negotiated with the three Albanians to catch some other drug dealers in order to open a new market for them. During the arrest, 2.7 kg of heroin were seized from their competitors and 1 kg of the same drug was given to the Albanian associates of the policeman.

In addition to the market clearing, the policemen assisted for lighter sentences and special treatment of the members of the gang while in prison. A policeman received 20 thousand euro to record the person arrested as an informant and to send the prosecution misleading data that would provide the offender with more favourable treatment.

The evidence gathered by the police suggests that the police head of department for foreigners provided on 15 March 2012 in Thessaloniki security for the members of the criminal gang to carry away drugs that had been contracted for sale. The same senior policeman had been working for many years at the local station of the Dendropotamos neighbourhood, which is known for heavy crime. During the police raid, 37 thousand euro, documents of bank accounts and transactions, three pistols, one rifle and dozens of telephones were seized.