Police seize more than 5 tons of cocaine for Sicily Action against freeriders brings Netflix more subscription customers

The Italian financial police on a mission in the Mediterranean Packages found with more than 5.3 tons of cocaine and an estimated market value of around 850 million euros. Five people were also arrested in the large-scale operation off the southwest coast of Sicily, the financial police reported on Thursday evening. It would be the largest cocaine seizure ever carried out on Italian territory.

The detectives managed to attack in the international drug trade during an unusual operation. During reconnaissance flights, the airborne forces noticed a fishing trawler conspicuously approaching a merchant vessel they had been observing in the waters for several days. The fishing boat left the coast of Calabria, the financial police said in a statement.

Early Wednesday morning, investigators then watched as numerous packages were brought onto the merchant ship’s deck and promptly thrown into the water as the fishing trawler approached, to be picked up by the smaller boat’s crew. During the subsequent entry by the financial police, a large amount of drugs was found – two Tunisians, an Italian, a French and an Albanian were arrested. The merchant ship was escorted by the navy to the port of Palermo (Sicily).

Time and time again there are sometimes spectacular drug discoveries in the Mediterranean. In recent months, the Italian financial police have repeatedly succeeded in seizing tons of drugs. (sda/dpa)