Greek Police Arrest 3 Old Calendarist ‘Priests’ in Major Cocaine and Human Smuggling Bust

The Old Calendarist Church of Agios Parthenios, Athens, which served as a drug storehouse. Photo: Kostas Tzoumas/Eurokinissi

ATHENS — Greek Police have arrested three self-proclaimed priests accused of trafficking cocaine and smuggling migrants, following a months-long investigation by the country’s organized crime unit. The arrests—part of a wider operation that detained eight suspects—were carried out in Athens and on the island of Rhodes, reports Neos Kosmos.

Among those taken into custody is a 46-year-old former cleric and social media “influencer,” once a model and television lifestyle commentator, who had been dismissed from the Church of Greece. Despite his defrocking, he continued to present himself as both a priest and “Archbishop of the Old Calendarists.” Authorities say his Athens chapel served as the group’s headquarters and a storage site for narcotics intended for distribution.

A second priest was apprehended on Rhodes while handing over a suitcase containing more than two kilograms of cocaine, and a third — already imprisoned in Komotini for migrant smuggling — is believed to have played a central coordinating role.

Police identified a 52-year-old woman as the ringleader, directing the priests and other members of the network. Investigators revealed the group used coded language in their communications, referring to cocaine as “candle,” cannabis as “coffee,” and unprocessed marijuana as “fanouropita.” Evidence shows the drugs were hidden in a flowerpot inside a church courtyard.

The suspects now face charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and human smuggling, as authorities probe potential international links and financial networks behind the operation. 

Previously, UOJ reported that an ongoing case in Greece involving the Cretan mafia had produced a shocking revelation, as a conversation that was wiretapped by law enforcement inferred the need for explicit American approval in ecclesiastical matters of the Church.

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