Greece arrests gang smuggling cocaine-infused leather from Latin America

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ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek police have dismantled a gang that had been hiding cocaine in sheets of leather that were smuggled from Bolivia to Greece on container ships, police officials said on Friday.

They said the method used by the gang signalled a shift in methods for smuggling the drug from South America to Europe.

Eleven people have been arrested so far, including nationals form Bolivia and Spain, after police monitored the suspects for months following a tip-off by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the officials said.

The gang had set up a laboratory in Athens to extract the cocaine from the leather, which had been dried with salt, they said.

Police confiscated at least 300 packages with salt mixed with cocaine and estimated the total amount of cocaine in the lab to be more than 800 kg (1,764 pounds).

The suspects are expected to appear before a prosecutor to respond to the charges on Friday.

This is Greece’s second case involving cocaine poured into garments. In late May, police dismantled a ring which was smuggling clothes soaked into liquid cocaine from Ecuador.

(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou, Editing by Timothy Heritage)