DrugsNews

Operation Manila – Drug rivers from Morocco, 14 drug traffickers arrested

Soldiers of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome carried out the precautionary custody order in prison issued by the GIP of the Capitoline Court, at the request of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Rome, against 14 persons under investigation for criminal association aimed at international trafficking of narcotic substances. The specialists of the GICO of the Economic-Financial Police Unit have dismantled a structured gang dedicated to importing large quantities of drugs – mainly hashish – from Morocco through Spain, with the aim of supplying the capital’s drugstore squares.

The criminal organization, promoted and directed by two subjects of Calabrian origin, together with a Roman associate, who took care of the executive and logistic part with the help of other associates, turned to a real “broker” of drug trafficking, always of Calabrian origin, often traveling to Spain, for the supply of drugs. The illicit loads arrived in Italy – hidden among pallets of vegetables transported by articulated lorries – at the offices of two Roman companies operating in the trucking and trading sector of building materials, whose owners made available, for a fee, spaces and equipment for unloading operations.

The drug was then guarded by other associates in various places that were periodically changed, such as garages and apartments in residential condominiums, as well as in the home of a Roman cleanser with a garden and two pit bull dogs to guard. During the investigations, 3 subjects were arrested in the act and kidnapped almost kg. 400 of hashish, over kg. 120 of marijuana and about kg. 3 of cocaine, as well as sophisticated equipment needed to set up an indoor greenhouse. On one occasion, in an attempt to get rid of the substance kept in the house when the Financiers intervened, marijuana was thrown into the household drains, causing the plumbing of an entire building to be blocked.

After a few hours, the tenant of the apartment below contacted the Fiamme Gialle barracks to report that a strange greenish substance was leaking from the drains of their bathroom. In addition, the information acquired through the interceptions and the checks carried out on the spot by the Spanish Civil Guard – which provided valuable collaboration during all the investigative phases – made it possible to identify and arrest an Italian fugitive in Spain, in March 2020, subsequently extradited to Italy. Finally, from the investigations carried out, it emerged that 4 subjects – now arrested – received, directly or as part of the beneficiaries’ family, the “citizenship income”, which is why the INPS offices will be affected