Tony Mokbel will be extradited to Australia from Greece to face trial on murder and drugs charges.

Tony Mokbel will be extradited to Australia from Greece to face trial on murder and drugs charges.The extradition was approved today by Greece's Justice Minister, Sotiris Hadjigakis, who ratified an earlier decision by the country's Supreme Court, The Associated Press reports.However, Victoria's Police Minister Bob Cameron said there had been no official word from Greece on Mokbel's status.
"We welcome the news coming out of Greece, however, Victorian Police is yet to receive any official confirmation,'' he said tonight. Mokbel faces at least 20 charges related to cocaine importation and the deaths of underworld heavyweights Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall. He sparked a global manhunt after skipping bail on March 20, 2006 while on trial for cocaine smuggling.Following his disappearence, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to up to 12 years' jail.He was arrested on an Interpol warrant last June at a cafe near the rented beachside Athens home he shared with his partner, Danielle McGuire and their young daughter Renate. Mokbel fought the extradition, saying he would not get a fair trial in Australia.After the Supreme Court ruling, he said he would prefer to be extradited to anywhere but Australia, including Beirut. "You would probably get a fairer trial for me in bloody Indonesia," he said at the time.

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14-year-old girl, who apparently died following use of cocaine

14-year-old girl, who apparently died following use of cocaine on Sunday, was being buried in Ptolemaida yesterday a 20-year-old woman was hospitalized in Alexandroupolis after allegedly taking the same drug.
The 20-year-old was unconscious but stable, according to doctors. She was hospitalized on Monday night after she passed out in the car of her 29-year-old boyfriend. He was questioned by police but then released as there was no evidence of him having supplied her with drugs.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old man believed to have supplied the 14-year-old girl from Ptolemaida with cocaine was given extra time to prepare his testimony. He is due to appear before a magistrate tomorrow.
Protesters yesterday staged a rally outside Ptolemaida Town Hall, calling for the creation of drug advisory and rehabilitation centers in the area.
Studies show that Greek schoolchildren do not usually purchase drugs directly from dealers but through middlemen who are often their acquaintances. “These are often friends or relatives of the pupils,” according to a spokesperson for the Organization Against Drugs (OKANA). “They tend to target kids who get a hefty pocket money allowance,” he said.
Cocaine is known as the “rich person’s drug” as it is relatively expensive – up to 90 euros a gram.
The bulk of cocaine entering the Greek market is smuggled in over the border with Albania, while some also comes from Bulgaria or from Turkey via Aegean islands such as Lesvos, Kos and Rhodes. Batches are also smuggled in from the Black Sea region and the Middle East, destined for Piraeus. Once in Greece, the bulk of cocaine is handled by the Albanian mafia, police told Kathimerini.

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Tony Mokbel

As his extradition fight wanes, lawyers for the murder accused have flagged plans to use the charter in their attempt to keep Mokbel out of Australia's courts.
Tony Mokbel will use the State Government's new human rights charter in a bid to escape a long prison sentence in Australia.
Mokbel's lawyer, Mirko Bagaric, who has co-authored a book on the charter, said Mokbel shouldn't be tried in Victoria because of his high profile.
If he is extradited, Mokbel's defence team will argue the charter forbids his being tried in Victoria because he is already considered guilty in the minds of potential jurors.
"What we'll be saying is, Tony can't get a fair trial in Victoria," he said.
Mr Bagaric said the charter would make it tougher for the courts to reject the argument.
"Usually, a court could say the community good outweighs the risk that he would not get a fair trial.
"This shifts the balance firmly in favour of the accused," he said.
The charter, which took full effect this month and looks set to be adopted nationally, enshrines the presumption of innocence in the law.
Mokbel, who remains in an Athens jail after his arrest in Greece last June, is running out of options in his extradition battle.
He absconded on bail before he was convicted of serious drug charges and was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court in his absence to a minimum of nine years' jail.
Australian courts, including the High Court, have knocked back his arguments against extradition.
If his final appeal in Greece fails on March 4, his team will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
If that doesn't work, they will use the new charter to bolster an argument that an accused person shouldn't be tried where jurors might be prejudiced.
Mokbel is wanted in Victoria on more than 20 charges, including two of murder.
A Department of Justice consultation paper says police were not convinced of the need for the charter.
Mr Bagaric said it would clash with some laws, such as tough graffiti laws, that conflict with an individual's right to free speech.
He said judges would have the power to declare a law incompatible with the charter.
It would then be up to Parliament to decide if the law should be changed.

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Greek Orthodox nunnery

A Greek Orthodox nunnery was turned into a marijuana plantation by two men posing as gardeners for elderly nuns, police said on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, officers raided the nunnery in the village of Filiro, near the northern port city of Thessaloniki, and found more than 30 large cannabis plants in the enclosed gard

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