A raid at the port of Gioia Tauro seized 175 kilos of cocaine.

A new blow to international drug trafficking has been dealt at the port of Gioia Tauro. The Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza in Reggio Calabria, in collaboration with the Customs and Monopolies Agency, intercepted and seized over 175 kilograms of ultra-pure cocaine, hidden in three containers originating from Latin America.

The operation is part of a plan to intensify checks across the entire port area, aimed at identifying containers used by criminal organizations to import drugs among the thousands of shipments that pass through the Calabrian port every day.

During targeted inspections, military personnel from the Gioia Tauro Group and customs officials selected three containers bound for Italy and Eastern European countries, supposedly loaded with frozen seafood, including octopus and shrimp. Scanned by X-rays and subsequently checked by Guardia di Finanza canine units, the containers revealed 154 blocks of cocaine, weighing more than 175 kilograms.

The shipment, once released onto the market, would have netted the criminal organizations approximately €30 million. The drugs were concealed using sophisticated techniques in an attempt to evade the stringent customs controls that have been conducted for months at the Calabrian port, a long-standing strategic hub for international drug trafficking.

All the documentation relating to the operation has already been forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Palmi, where it will be reviewed by Prosecutor Emanuele Crescenti and the magistrate on duty for validation and the initiation of further investigative activities.

Today's seizure confirms the effectiveness of the coordination between the Guardia di Finanza and the Customs Agency, whose joint work continues to severely impact the illicit flows through Southern Italy's main maritime hub.