Italy Seizes A Record 5.3-Tonne Cocaine Off The Southern Coast Of Sicily

Italian authorities have reportedly seized 5.3 tons of cocaine haul being shifted between vessels off Sicily’s southern coast, per police reports on Friday.

The consignment is approximately worth 850 million euros, and five people have been arrested, per the Guardia di Finanza. Police had been tracking a vessel that sailed from South America and swooped in the early hours of Wednesday, as a surveillance aircraft observed several packages being thrown from the deck into the Strait of Sicily to be gathered by a fishing trawler.

Video Credit: @AssociatedPress/ Youtube

They stopped the trawler and discovered significant quantities of drugs within a hidden compartment behind the paneling on the ship. Two Tunisians, Albanians, Italian, and French nationals were arrested. Renato Schifani, the Sicilian regional president, praised the mission as a blow against drug smuggling. Drugs are a social scourge fuelled by unscrupulous individuals who sow death by crushing all hopes and destroying several families.

In April 2023, the Italian police found almost two tons of cocaine floating off eastern Sicily at sea, which they strongly believe had been left by a cargo ship for collection.

Reference: Reuters, News Sky, English Bianet

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