The Finance Police of the Reggio Calabria Provincial Command have executed a precautionary measure ordering the detention of two officials of the Customs and Monopolies Agency serving at the Gioia Tauro Customs Office, and house arrest for a shipping company employee.
These individuals are allegedly involved in international drug trafficking, aggravated by the intent to facilitate the 'Ndrangheta. The measures were ordered by the investigating judge at the Court of Reggio Calabria, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office – District Anti-Mafia Directorate, headed by Dr. Giovanni Bombardieri.
A total of 7 individuals are under investigation by the Reggio Calabria DDA, with the support of EUROJUST, as part of an operation conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit/GICO of Reggio Calabria.
According to the investigation, the customs officials were apparently part of a criminal gang consisting of the manager of a shipping company, unfaithful dock workers, and representatives of the main 'Ndrangheta clans operating in the Gioia Tauro plain area.
These would have allowed the exit from the port of huge quantities of cocaine by altering the results of inspections or by failing to detect anomalies in the controlled loads. Furthermore, one of the customs officials would have warned the associates about possible operations conducted by the "Fiamme Gialle", with the intent of avoiding their arrest.
The investigations allowed us to reconstruct the involvement of Customs and Monopolies Agency personnel in five drug imports, carried out between June 5 and October 2020, involving over 2022 tons of cocaine.
This service demonstrates the consistent and effective action of the Guardia di Finanza and the Public Prosecutor's Office - Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Reggio Calabria in combating international drug trafficking.
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