AADE dealt a significant blow to the illegal arms trade, finding and seizing 3,081 items at the Port of Thessaloniki.
Customs inspectors from the Anti-Smuggling Department of the 1st Thessaloniki Customs Office for Imports and Exports found a suspicious container during routine spot checks and carried out further examinations using the mobile X-ray system. The container, whose declared cargo was “sunglasses, beads”, had arrived from a port in China, with a company in Bulgaria as the final consignee.
The X-ray scan revealed suspicious areas inside the container. A full physical inspection that followed uncovered 24 cartons containing a total of 3,081 weapons.
The items seized were:
• 1,900 daggers
• 470 butterfly knives
• 300 swords (blade length: 45 centimetres)
• 175 swords (blade length: 50 centimetres)
• 120 swords (blade length: 42 centimetres)
• 110 knuckle-dusters
• 6 karambit knives (curved knives)
These items fall under the provisions of the law on weapons and were seized after the prosecutor handling criminal prosecutions was notified and gave her approval.
AADE is continuing intensive targeted inspections of freight flows to ensure the legality of the supply chain and protect public safety.