‘Ndrangheta, 36 arrests for drug trafficking at the port of Gioia Tauro

Guardia di Finanza (generic) – Photo by Ansa Foto

Three hundred Guardia di Finanza soldiers are employed in a vast operation in Calabria. Financiers are executing a custody order issued by the Reggio Calabria Investigating Judge, at the request of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, against thirty-six people accused of leading international drug trafficking, with the aggravating circumstance of mafia purposes.

Customs Agency official arrested

Among the suspects who found themselves handcuffed, there is also an official from the Customs Agency. The man was on duty in the office set up by the Agency in the port of Gioia Tauro, which in the past has collaborated on several occasions with the Guardia di Finanza on the occasion of the numerous drug seizures made on the dock .

For thirty-four of the thirty-six beneficiaries of the custody order, prison sentences were pronounced, while two were granted the benefit of house arrest.

Other Italian cities are also involved

In the center of traffic, the port of Gioia Tauro. The operation concerns, in addition to the province of Reggio Calabria, those of Milan, Novara, Vicenza, Terni, Rome, Naples and Bari.

The measures were taken at the request of Reggio Calabria Prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri and Deputy Prosecutor Giuseppe Lombardo and are being carried out by the Organized Crime Investigation Group (Gico) and by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Reggio Calabria .

Over 400 tonnes of cocaine seized

The investigations that led to the arrests led to the seizure of more than four hundred tons of cocaine, for a retail value of approximately eight hundred million euros. Real estate and furniture for a value of seven million euros were also seized. Among the assets seized are the social assets of two companies operating in the transport sector.