Britons held in Greece over large guns stash

14 February 2016

BBC

Three men have been arrested in north-eastern Greece on suspicion of trying to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Turkey, Greek police say.

Two are British citizens - the third a UK resident. At least one of them is reported to be of Iraqi Kurdish origin.

The men were in possession of 22 firearms and more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition, police say.

They are suspected of being part of a "criminal gang". They are due to be charged on Tuesday.

They have reportedly asked to speak in court in Kurdish.

The UK Foreign Office says it is "urgently looking into the reports".

The weapons were not combat rifles but could have been used for training, a police official told Reuters news agency.

Acting on a tip-off, the Greek police and coast guard set up a surveillance operation over several days which led to the arrest of two of the men at the entrance to Alexandroupolis port.

They were driving a car towing a caravan. Concealed inside it, police found 18 guns, 39,750 cartridges, currencies including Turkish lira and Iraqi dinars, and seven mobile phones.

Another man was arrested near the Kipoi border point on the Evros river, as he was driving a trailer with German number plates.

Inside, police found four Walther handguns, 200,000 cartridges, eight night-vision goggles and cash in various currencies.