Two pushers in handcuffs with 450 grams of marijuana, 30 grams of hashish And 5 grams of cocainefrom retail value of over 10 thousand euros and a gun with serial number worn off and ready to fire. It is the outcome of an operation against illegal drug trafficking and weapons by the Carabinieri of the Catania Investigative Unit.
The operation took place in the populous neighborhood of “Fort”: this is where the Carabinieri arrested a 32-year-old man with multiple criminal convictions from Catania and his 19-year-old nephew for “detention for the purposes of dealing” and “illegal possession of clandestine weapons and ammunition”.
During the investigations, the carabinieri had reconstructed how the two had set up a thriving drug trade, using a house on the ground floor of the building as a logistical base for the storage of drugs.Fort”, a two-room apartment officially used as a kiosk warehouse, from which they left to make deliveries to their “customers”.
The stakeouts
At the end of one of the stakeouts, the carabinieri decided to intervene when they saw the 32-year-old driving a black SH150 scooter leaving the warehouse in question, which was immediately stopped by the Investigative Unit soldiers. Clearly, the man was immediately searched and investigators found some doses of marijuana in his trouser pocket and a precision scale hidden inside a bag from a well-known fashion brand.
Meanwhile, his nephew had also left the monitored warehouse and, having noticed the presence of the police, he tried to escape but was stopped by another group of soldiers who continued to monitor the warehouse. He also had some doses of drugs kept in his trouser pocket. In this case, the narcotic found was hashish preserved inside a plastic ovule bearing the writing “Professional”.
The boxes
Inside the warehouse, however, the investigators found – inside a box a 7.65 caliber semi-automatic pistol with abraded serial number and inserted magazine containing three shots, 50 grams of marijuana, 30 grams of hashish and 5 grams of cocaine all divided into doses, several plastic and silver paper sachets for packaging the drugs and three perfectly functioning precision scales. Furthermore, inside another box, the soldiers found a backpack, inside which they were found 400 grams of marijuanadivided into plastic ovules bearing the same writing “Professional” already seen on the egg found in the 19-year-old’s trouser pocket.
All the drugs were seized, together with the gun which was sent to the Weapon’s Scientific Investigations Department to be subjected to investigations in order to clarify the original serial number and whether it had been involved in shooting events. The two criminals were made available to the Judicial Authority, which ordered home detention for the 19-year-old and precautionary custody in prison for the 32-year-old.
