Regarding 4): Those croatian guys are just mules basicaly, 3 guys from seaside town proficient in boat sailing. Two younger guys in mid 20's and main guy who fell into some financial business / mortgage problems. They are not even part of any criminal organization, they were just hired because of their sailing skills.

That’s what I thought when I read the story, it would make a good book/film. Keep in mind that many Greeks (myself included) haven’t read all these details in any Greek newspaper ;-)

1) "near Serbia", so most probably not in Serbia, but probably in Greece.

In this story:

> heroin would be diluted with more than five tons of marble dust from a quarry on nearby Mount Pentelikon

heroin diluted with marble? it this real?

A search turned up this example of cocaine being diluted with marble powder:

> High concentrations of Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn, and P were found, indicating that adulterants such as gypsum, marble powder, limestone, cement, and others must be used to increase the profitability of the illicit drug market.

http://static.sites.sbq.org.br/jbcs.sbq.org.br/pdf/2020-0204...

Diluting a very expensive product with something very cheap and selling it for the price of the pure product would certainly be a way of increasing profits.

From what I've read, many overdoses happen when users who are used to diluted heroin get hold of pure heroin, ending up with a much bigger dose than expected.

The paper I cited notes another risk for cocaine users: "Diluting substances such as talc, plaster, lime and chalk, used to increase the volume of the drug, are not absorbed and can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as silicosis".

I have never seen coke cut up with those substances. Mannitol is mainly used in Europe. To test cocaine on how pure it is many people test it by checking how much solves in water.

One of my 'if were dictator' pronouncements. I'd make it a misdemeanor to sell Heroin and hard felony to sell adulterated Heroin.

That's why people take prescription opiates - it says right on the tin how much it is. With the street stuff you have to estimate the purity, even the compound, there's dozens of opiates, and sometimes people get it wrong.

And when you’re dealing with fentanyls, there’s huge dose to dose variation due to uneven mixing.

Mixing something 1:1000 is a lot harder than 1:10, especially when you’re just dealing with solid particles of ??? sizing.

A raver told me once about trying to cut a gram of MDMA with powered sugar. One person got 3 times the normal dose and couple of people got nothing.

With that in mind, why do people want to abolish the FDA? They are the ones overseeing quality control in generics.

In Russia (Saint Petersburg) two amateur drug dealers were charged for police murder because they didn't know they should dilute their shit, and a policeman died after using the seized goods, because they were too pure.

> What ports would that be?

Anything in Bosnia or Croatia, and then through the Serbian parts of Bosnia up to Serbia itself.

Bosnia basicaly doesn't have ports (besides Neum, which is not realy practical), so either Albania / Montenegro / Croatia. Most likely Albania - Kosovo - Serbia route, since it's already established heroin smuggling route.

Most likely Montenegro -> Serbia. Much easier, then going through two other countries, and Montenegro has issues (both election, and previous corruption problems).

Last time I passed through Montenegro I got stoped by two cops and they straight out asked me money (they wanted 20 euros for each), so they didn't suspend my license. (and yes, they were slavic/montenegrins and not Albanians)

I was going 64 khm/h on a 60km/h zone. They are corrupt as hell.

> Most likely Albania - Kosovo - Serbia route, since it's already established heroin smuggling route.

I assume this would require the smuggler to either be a Serbian or Kosovo citizen, or make a handover to a local person in Kosovo? A citizen of a third country cannot enter Serbia after entering Kosovo from a third country. The Serbian authorities will deny you entry and tell you to go back and enter into Serbia from one of the other countries bordering it.

Well that's how it works in theory. In practice the smuggler can sneak across the border or bribe the authorities, just like in every other country.

Most likely Montenegro, since it is easy to move to serbia from there (plus there are serbians that live there), and the country is going through some election transition period, so things might slip through easily.

Serbia and Montenegro are a federated country and Montenegro has a coastline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_and_Montenegro

In 2006, Montenegro seceded from the union, following an independence referendum which narrowly passed, leading to the full independence of Serbia and Montenegro.

would you go to an actual port if you're hauling a ton of heroin?

Depends if the port was in on it, who you’ve paid off, etc.

so if given a choice between bribing a port and not bribing a port, you would bribe the port.

I suppose, if in the position to decision, whatever actions might improve the odds of success are on the table. You’d bribe the port, but only if you were highly confident the bribe was going to work and the port wouldn’t turn on you as soon as the mooring lines were secured.