Drug dealing
As part of the strengthening of patrol services across the entire Etna capital, also aimed at the prevention and repression of crimes related to drugs, which constitute a secure source of income for organized crime, the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit of Catania have inflicted another harsh blow to the phenomenon of drug trafficking, with the arrest for detention for the purpose of drug dealing of four pushers from Catania, namely a 39-year-old, a 34-year-old, a 23-year-old, all convicted criminals and a 41-year-old originally from Bangladesh, who in a studio flat in San Cristoforo neighborhood had created a logistical base for drug dealing, particularly crack.
Following a complex information-investigative activity, the military discovered that the four pushers had rented a studio apartment from Salvatore di Giacomo and had used it as a drug dealing point, frequented by numerous customers, especially at night.
Once the circumstantial evidence was clear, the military decided to set up a remote observation service in “discreet mode”, camouflaging themselves among the locals near the apartment in question.
The most favorable moment to intervene came after a few hours of hiding, when the investigators saw two customers accessing the courtyard which then leads to the apartment in question. The blitz began immediately. One of the carabinieri, following the two customers, managed to access the court and once he reached the studio apartment on the ground floor, on the left side he identified himself as belonging to the police force.
At that point, the 41-year-old, who was responsible for welcoming buyers at the door of the apartment, attempted to close the door, but the attempt was in vain because other colleagues arrived to help the soldier and together they managed to enter the home. Inside, precisely in the living room, the officers found a large wooden table on which there was a 32” screen that, connected to three cameras, allowed them to monitor the entire perimeter of the home, two buttons to open the entrance doors automatically, a precision digital scale, several rolls of silver paper for packaging the drug, some sheets of paper with names and sums of money, as well as 111 euros in coins.
The police found, near a wooden staircase that led to a mezzanine floor, two sachets: one contained about ten grams of crack and the other a substance to “cut” it.
All the drugs and money were seized, while the pushers were placed at the disposal of the judicial authority which validated the arrest and ordered precautionary custody in prison.
