Guns and cannabis rule in Greek village

[WantDaChronic]

GREEK police have sealed off a lawless mountain village in Crete that appears to been home to a a major marijuana growing operation - whose members had fired off 1000 rounds of ammunition at a police search party.

 

Police returned to Zoniana, only a few kilometres from the island's popular tourist beaches at Rethymnon, in greater force on Tuesday.

 

By yesterday, masked officers were still blocking roads while more than 200 heavily armed colleagues searched homes and farms.

 

The operation has highlighted how some parts of Crete, known for its rugged mountain scenery and isolated villages, and with a long tradition of holding weapons, remain outside government control.

 

Zoniana is only 30km from the island's capital, Heraklion.

 

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis found himself having to tell Parliament in Athens: “We will no longer tolerate behaviour outside the law.

 

"The law will be tough and make no distinction.”

 

Police said they had found dozens of guns and remnants of a makeshift drugs processing lab as well as several cannabis plantations, one of them near the village cemetery.

 

They found €15 million ($24 million) in the bank accounts of two local farmers, and €250,000 in cash in a house, which led to the arrest of the owner and his two sons.

 

The torched remains of stolen cash dispensers, cars and motorcycles were also found.

 

By yesterday police had made 14 arrests, and they said they expected more.

 

Zoniana's school was closed because of the large number of armed officers on roofs and in streets and yards.

 

The operation was triggered by the injury of three officers when dozens of gang members perched on high ground ambushed 12 police cars on their way to the village to check for drugs.

 

More than 1000 rounds were fired before the convoy beat a hasty retreat.

 

Crete has one of the highest gun ownership rates in Greece, a vestige of Ottoman Turkish rule when Cretans stocked up on guns for protection.

Source: www.news.com.au