Naples A katana as sharp as in a Tarantino blockbuster, but this time it's not cinematic fiction: it's the exotic weapon seized from an apartment in Scampia, the symbol of a drug racket that doesn't even spare married couples.
Late yesterday evening, Carabinieri from the Scampia station put an end to a Hollywood-style drug dealing operation, arresting its protagonists: a 29-year-old local man and his wife, who will turn 31 in a few days.
The search, prompted by targeted investigations into drug trafficking in Naples' hottest neighborhood, transformed an anonymous home into a makeshift arsenal. On the kitchen table, officers discovered ten one-kilogram blocks of hashish, two bags of marijuana ready for retail sale, and a stash of €5.100 in crisp bills, the illicit proceeds of the illicit business.
But it wasn't just white and green powder that filled the shelves: here appeared a semi-automatic pistol without the red safety cap, a magazine for a 9x21 caliber Glock pistol and, the icing on the cake, an 81-centimeter-long Japanese katana, with a polished blade and a handle wrapped in black silk, ideal for "cutting" not only imaginary enemies, but perhaps also doses of narcotics."
The seizure also included precision scales, packaging bags, and every tool of the drug dealer's trade: a complete kit for an activity that, according to investigators, fueled the criminal underworld of Scampia.
He is in prison, she is under house arrest
Arrested red-handed for possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and illegal possession of firearms and bladed weapons, the couple offered no resistance. The man, with a prior history of minor crimes related to the area, was taken to Poggioreale prison, where he will serve pretrial detention pending a summary hearing.
His wife, who had no criminal record until now, was granted house arrest: a more lenient measure, perhaps due to the proximity of her birthday or the marginal role revealed by the investigation.
The Carabinieri are trying to trace the drug dealers, the couple's business, their clientele and, above all, on whose behalf they were dealing.
