The military personnel of the Catania Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza, together with the financial police of the Messina Naval Air Group, have seized approximately 2 tons of a narcotic substance of the cocaine type, found in the sea off the eastern coast of Sicily.
In particular, as part of specific surveillance activities in the coastal waters of eastern Sicily for economic and financial policing purposes, air and naval units of the Guardia di Finanza (Fiamme Gialle) identified numerous floating packages , escorted by a luminous signaling device and held together by nets to prevent their dispersion. A cursory external examination revealed the particular care taken in the packaging, likely intended to prevent water infiltration, thus preserving the contents and, at the same time, avert the risk of them sinking.
The floating packages held together by nets and with a luminous device
The peculiar packaging methods and the presence of a luminous device to allow its tracing led to the hypothesis that it could have been a shipment of narcotic substances , presumably left at sea by one of the cargo ships that ply that stretch of coast to be subsequently recovered and transported to the mainland.
The Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Catania Guardia di Finanza was therefore activated, which, with the support of the Palermo Air and Naval Operations Department , provided collaboration in relation to the recovery of the packages at sea and also coordinated the subsequent operations to secure the cargo, carrying out the necessary in-depth investigations into the delicate situation.
At the same time, an aerial reconnaissance activity was started by aircraft from the Pratica di Mare Air and Maritime Exploration Group and the Catania Air Manoeuvre Section in order to verify the possible presence of further packages dispersed in the area surrounding the one where the discovery was made.
Once the air and sea activities were completed, specialized units of the aforementioned PEF Unit of Catania proceeded to inspect the packages , finding the actual presence inside them of numerous blocks containing a whitish powdery substance which, from a preliminary examination using rapid tests, turned out to be cocaine.
On the basis of the evidence that emerged, and having constantly informed the District Attorney's Office at the Court of Catania, we proceeded with the seizure of over 1.600 blocks of dough , contained in approximately 70 packages, for a total gross weight of almost 2.000 kilograms , from unknown persons.
The activity carried out, made possible by the constant and synergic action carried out by the operational units of the Guardia di Finanza at sea and on the territory, is part of the broader framework that demonstrates the effectiveness of the Fiamme Gialle's device in preventing and combating all forms of illicit trafficking.
The identification and subsequent seizure of such a quantity of drugs, one of the largest ever carried out in the national territory, prevented the narcotic from being likely recovered by criminals for subsequent illegal marketing in the national territory, which would have generated very high profits, in the order of approximately over 400 million euros at retail.
