Upon delegation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Velletri, the Carabinieri of the Velletri Company, in the provinces of Rome, Viterbo, Frosinone, Rieti, Latina and Chieti, with the support of the territorially competent Carabinieri commands, have implemented an implementing order of precautionary measure – issued by the GIP at the Court of Velletri – against 33 people, mostly Italian as well as Moroccan, Algerian, Romanian and Brazilian (of which 5 women), – 11 recipients of precautionary custody in prison and 22 under arrest house arrest – seriously suspected, for various reasons, of the crimes of detention for the purpose of dealing narcotic substances (art. 73 Presidential Decree 309/90), extortion (art. 629 criminal code) and undue access to devices suitable for communication by detained individuals (art. 391 ter cp). Sixteen of the people targeted by today’s precautionary measures are already detained in prison.
The suspects were accused of various episodes of drug dealing inside the Velletri district prison (as well as two episodes of extortion, due to beatings and threats suffered by one of the suspects and some family members for unpaid supplies of narcotic substances), committed between January and June 2023 within the aforementioned penal institution for a turnover of approximately €80,000.
The detailed and complex investigation, supported by technical means, originally aimed at combating drug dealing in the Veliterna and Castelli Romani areas, carried out by the Carabinieri of the Velletri Company, made it possible to collect serious circumstantial elements regarding the use of a usual and tested expedient, through the introduction of drugs in packages addressed to prisoners, to introduce hashish and cocaine inside the prison and not only to satisfy the needs of some of the recipients, but above all to circulate it in favor of other inmate consumers but only after the relatives on the outside had paid through top-ups on prepaid cards, so much so that internal conflicts arose between some prisoners due to the failure to pay the agreed amount which made it possible to gather serious indications of guilt in relation to episodes of extortion against prisoners and their relatives.
The drugs were hidden – together with vacuum-packed foodstuffs and basic necessities – inside packages intended for prisoners, via couriers, reaching costs equal to double for each single dose compared to the market prices outside.
What made the Carabinieri’s reconstruction even more difficult was the complexity of the network of relationships between the subjects under investigation, in fact, between the senders and the real recipients of the illicit correspondence there were multiple changes of hands (family members of prisoners, frontmen and compliant prisoners ).
Similar passages have been ascertained regarding the flows of money, paid onto prepaid cards, appropriately registered in the name of frontmen who are often outside the circle of contacts of the prisoners or their relatives. In three cases, the military personnel, with the support of the Penitentiary Police on duty in the Velletri prison, managed to intercept the packages containing the narcotic, seizing the cocaine and hashish intended for the inmates.
Serious indications of guilt have also been gathered regarding the use of mobile phones by some inmates in prison to communicate with family members, order drugs and also threaten relatives for non-payment of the drugs, which has not yet been It is clear how they were let in and where they kept them hidden.
The large-scale operation, conducted for the execution of the ordinances, saw the deployment of over 100 soldiers and a helicopter, mainly based at the Carabinieri Provincial Command in Rome with the support of the Carabinieri Aircraft Group and the Provincial Commands of Latina, Rieti , Viterbo, Frosinone and Chieti where the operation was extended.
It should be noted that the proceeding is in the preliminary investigation phase and therefore the suspects are to be considered innocent until a possible final sentence.
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