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A company officially engaged in the trade of textile goods but turned into a factory for the illegal trade of alcoholic drinks has been detected by the police in Kalamaria suburb in Thessaloniki.

The factory owner is a man, aged 53, who is now wanted by the police. A court file has been composed against him on charges of forgery, fraud, violation of the Customs Act and the Weapons Act.

As is clear from the police investigation, over the past two years the owner had turned his seemingly legitimate company into a factory for the illegal importing and bottling of alcoholic drinks (whiskey, vodka and gin), thus making huge profits and robbing the state revenue by not paying the taxes and fees due (the exact amount of damages will be calculated by the customs office).

According to the announcement of the general police directorate in Thessaloniki, the owner had imported the bottles of alcoholic drinks from Bulgaria and, using heaters, put on them false labels of Greek producers and bottlers of alcoholic drinks.

The illegal activities of the owner include possession, and sale in the domestic market, of bottles of alcoholic drinks of unknown origin as he had put on them labels of Greek companies that have recently ceased operations. The authorities have discovered in the factory labels of alcoholic drinks under the brand name of Greek companies that have never produced and bottled such drinks.

A competent officer of the State Chemical Laboratory has drawn up 49 written statements and has taken the relevant samples in order for them to undergo the relevant analyses. Over 7,500 bottles of alcoholic drinks of different companies with different content have been confiscated as well as a large number of elements of the bottling equipment.

Within the context of the police operation that monitored the facility, a man, aged 49, was spotted, who was apprehended when he was taking bottles of alcoholic drinks out of the illegal factory.

The police investigation continues in order to find and apprehend the company owner.