It is the largest anti-drug operation conducted in recent decades. It starts from Messina, extends to Calabria and throughout the country but also abroad. There are 112 people involved, 85 destined for prison and 27 under house arrest.
Maxi international blitz
The maxi international blitz began at the first light of dawn today, Tuesday 25 June 2024. The Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Messina carried out a vast operation in Sicily, Calabria, in other locations in the national territory and abroad, with the execution of precautionary measures issued by the GIP of the Court of Messina at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, against 112 people (85 recipients of precautionary custody in prison and 27 of custody under house arrest, of which 3 by the Sicily Regional Investigation Unit of the Penitentiary Police), believed to be involved, in various capacities, in major drug trafficking.
The charges include not only drugs but also weapons and extortion
The accusations are multiple and we are not just talking about drugs. The crimes charged are “association aimed at the possession, trafficking, cultivation and sale of narcotics”, as well as “self-laundering”, “fraudulent transfer of values”, “illegal possession and alteration of weapons”, “extortion” and other crimes.
Three distinct concurrent investigations
The restrictive measures arise from the results of three separate investigations, conducted by the Carabinieri of the Messina Sud and Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Companies, all under the coordination of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Messina, which simultaneously dismantled several criminal organizations active in drug trafficking in the city of Messina, in the Barcelona area and in the Nebroidean and Tyrrhenian areas of the province with connections to Calabrian criminal structures and subjects also active in Campania, Lombardy and abroad.
The investigations were intertwined in following the flows of drugs and the affairs of the three criminal groups and for this reason the prosecutor’s office decided to launch the blitz at the same time to avoid that the execution of the arrests of one of the investigations could alert the other suspects.
