According to Greek press reports, the probe was launched following the arrest of eight members of a suspected gun-running racket near Durres, on the Albanian coast, last Friday. The reports that followed also by the Albanian media indicating that Greece is on the smuggling route for the Syria-bound arms also forced Greek authorities to respond.
According to the reports, a raid was conducted by Albanian police last week in the town of Shijak which resulted in the arrest of eight suspects, aged between 18 and 44. During the arrests officials seized a large cache of weapons comprising of six Kalashnikov assault rifles, a Skorpion sub machine gun, six pistols, five hand grenades, two rifles and some 12,000 rounds of ammunition.
In a statement following the raid, a spokesman for the Albanian police said that the suspects are believed to be members of an international gun-running racket smuggling arms to Jihadists in Syria.
The apparent Greek connection was mentioned in Albanian media reports, which cited local police officials, and maintained that some of the arms were smuggled through Greece.
The same reports also noted that one of the alleged members of the racket, has been identified as Clirim X., a 39-year old who was convicted in Greece for armed robbery several years ago.
The report on Greece's STAR channel said that Albanian authorities are now searching for four more suspects, including two officials from Albania's Interior Ministry
More on this story in Greek on STAR TV
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