New wiretapped conversations between members of a drug trafficking ring that sold narcotics to tourists on the Greek island of Mykonos have been made public, revealing that the group's alleged Turkish leader boasted he intended to take over the island's drug trade before handing it, ready-made, to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The recordings were made by officers from Greece's Anti-Narcotics Division as part of an investigation into the network, which supplied various types of drugs to tourists and clients through a fleet of VIP vans operated by its members on the island. The calls also exposed the group's earnings and its plans for further expansion.
Complaints over drug quality
In one conversation, a dealer told the alleged leader that a client had complained about the poor quality of a batch, calling it worthless. The leader replied that he had only heard that complaint from him, prompting the dealer to say the same customer had praised an earlier batch delivered in July and to ask what could have gone wrong. The leader suggested the drugs might have picked up moisture, and the two discussed whether warming the batch would fix the problem.
Talk of attacking police
In a separate exchange, the leader and the dealer discussed retaliating against the authorities. They spoke of ambushing two vanloads of police officers, beating them and stuffing pink traffic tickets into their mouths. One of the men suggested the attack should be carried out in the style of Mexico, and the leader responded that they should hire Mexican men for the job. They went on to describe masked attackers leaving officers so badly beaten they would have to be carried away on stretchers.
Pink cocaine hidden under a code name
Another recorded call captured the leader speaking with a driver for the ring's transfer service, described as a regional member of the network, about an order of pink cocaine that the group referred to using the code name lahmacun, after the Turkish flatbread. The leader asked the driver for all of the lahmacun he had in his car. When the driver said some female clients wanted the secret recipe, the leader told him to have them call a man named Chris.
Transfer company and property in Athens and Turkey
The alleged Turkish leader ran a transfer company with a fleet of seven vehicles on Mykonos. He also owned two properties in the Attica region, rented out a 250-square-metre parking lot in Athens and owned a building in Turkey, according to the recordings. Investigators said he appeared to be looking to expand his business even further.
In one call, he proposed renting a shop so that three or four companies could be registered there under other people's names. When the dealer said such a shop would be hard to find, the leader insisted it was possible for anyone determined enough, adding that the group would operate as a legitimate, licensed business with a growing clientele. He said that before Erdogan arrived, he would conquer Mykonos himself and hand the island to the Turkish president ready-made.
Mykonos, part of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea, is one of Greece's best-known tourist destinations, drawing large numbers of visitors each summer for its nightlife and beach clubs.
Nine arrests on Mykonos
Nine members of the organisation were arrested in the early hours of Friday, 21 August, with the assistance of officers from the Special Operational Groups of the Sub-directorate of Intelligence and Special Actions of Greece's Directorate for Combating Organised Crime. A 22-year-old was separately arrested for possession of narcotic substances.
The report was first published by the Greek news outlet TheToc.
