GREEK POLICE ARREST GANG OF DRUG-SMUGGLING MULES

ATHENS, March 4 (Reuters) - Greek police arrested 12 mules carrying about
two tonnes of cannabis near the border with Albania on Wednesday and were
holding them pending investigation, police said.

``The mules are trained to follow mountain paths from Albania into
Greece,'' a police officer at the northern Greek town of Kastoria said.

Drug smugglers have used mules to bring narcotics from the tiny Balkan
state across Greece's northern border in the past but it has usually been
one animal.

``This time we had a big group. We really don't know what to do with
them,'' he said.

A group of collaborators believed to be waiting for the mules at a Greek
village about four km (2.5 miles) from the border fled when they saw the
police.

``We have made no arrests, other than the mules,'' the officer said.