Drug trafficking in Trentino, arrests also in Cremona.
This morning, the Financiers of the Provincial Command of Trento – assisted by personnel from the SCICO, the territorial departments of the Corps on the national territory and the Air Section of Bolzano – executed an Order, issued by the GIP of the Court of Trento upon request of the local DDA, which ordered the application of precautionary custody against 38 subjects (of which 27 in prison and 11 under residence obligations) as well as the seizure of assets and financial resources for over 10 million euros.
The precautionary measures, carried out in the provinces of Trento, Turin, Milan, Bergamo, Brescia, Bolzano, Verona, Pavia, Cremona and Livorno, were issued at the end of a detailed and complex investigation activity, started in December 2021 and conducted by the GICO of the Economic-Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Trento.
Overall, the investigation involves 38 subjects, of which 36 of foreign nationality (Albanians, Tunisians, Moroccans and Portuguese), held in various capacities, without prejudice to the principle of presumption of innocence, responsible for having participated or collaborated within 2 complex criminal associations which, interconnected with each other, were dedicated to the trafficking of substances narcotics (cocaine, hashish, marijuana and heroin), coming from other Italian regions and destined almost entirely for the Trentino area, in violation of articles. 73 and 74 of Presidential Decree 309/1990.
The investigations originate from previous judicial police investigations and constant monitoring of the area, following which possible illicit conduct emerged linked to the continuity of relationships between some previous suspects.
Subsequent investigations led to the identification of the main customers and suppliers of the narcotic substance, to the identification of the dense network of participants of the two criminal groups and to the complete reconstruction of their operations.
The gangs, following agreements between compatriots living in other regions, sent the narcotic substance to the Trentino area through couriers who used specially modified cars equipped with ingenious double bottoms.
Subsequently, the suspects operating in the provincial territory, a total of 26 with various roles and all affected by arrest measures, proceeded, inside some rented apartments, to cut and package the drugs, also using paprika to disguise their ‘odor.
The doses thus composed were hidden (buried) along the banks of rivers or inside a public park for subsequent transfer to final consumers.
In other cases, it emerged that the suspects used cars without insurance coverage and left in public car parks, near the historic center of the Trentino capital, as “temporary warehouses” for storing the narcotic substance, awaiting the next and imminent sale.
The sale of the narcotic substance usually took place in Trento and Rovereto, near or inside parks and public gardens and was aimed at a dense network of customers, even of young ages.
During the investigations, numerous findings were made, also through the use of the canine units of the Guardia di Finanza, which allowed 19 subjects to be arrested in flagrante delicto in violation of the art. 73 of Presidential Decree 309/1990 and to seize over 49 kg of hashish, 20 kg of cocaine, over 5 kg of heroin, cutting substances for approximately 12 kg, 1 firearm, cash for over 111,000 euros and material various for drug packaging.
The reconstruction of the criminal operations of the two investigated groups and of the other collaborators was also carried out from an economic and patrimonial point of view.
In fact, a significant availability of cash emerged, revealed by the numerous immediate payments or upon delivery of the purchased drugs, as well as by the seizures of significant quantities of money.
For some associates, the income deriving from drug dealing represented a sort of additional and parallel income compared to ordinary legitimate work activity; conversely, for the majority of associates, income from drug trafficking represented the only source of wealth.
By analyzing the quantities purchased, the purchase prices, the cuts of the pure substance (3 kg of substance to be marketed were obtained from 1 kg of cocaine), the doses obtainable per kilogram (equal to approximately 5000 doses for 1 kg of cut cocaine ), the average sale price per retail dose, the illicit profit that the gangs obtained from drug trafficking was then quantified, determined to be over 10 million euros.
At the disposal of the Judicial Authority, these illicit profits were therefore subject to preventive seizure aimed at confiscation for equivalent.
The execution of the provisions of the Judicial Authority, which required the use of approximately 100 soldiers from various territorial departments of the Guardia di Finanza, in addition to guaranteeing the application of personal precautionary measures, made it possible to seize the active balances of the current accounts and financial resources of the suspects.
The results of today’s investigation demonstrate, once again, the effectiveness of the investigative synergies implemented by the Guardia di Finanza under the coordination of the District Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Trento, in contrast to the most insidious and complex phenomena of illicit drug trafficking and , in general, to the repression of criminal trafficking, to protect the health of citizens and the rule of law, guaranteeing the State the recovery of illicit profits obtained.
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