Over one hundred soldiers of the Trentino Yellow Flames are carrying out arrests and searches throughout the national territory.
Article continues below
From the first light of dawn today, over one hundred soldiers of the Trentino Yellow Flames, with the support of the territorial departments competent for the territory, are carrying out arrests and searches throughout the national territory against a fierce network, divided into five interconnected groups, mainly composed by subjects of Italian, Romanian, Moldovan, Ukrainian, Greek and Maltese nationalities, engaged in the international smuggling of cigarettes, energy products and alcohol with important ramifications in Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, England, Holland, Poland, France, Bulgaria and Greece, countries from and to which the smuggled goods were imported / exported.
This is the operation called "MELITA", which has just ended with the execution of a precautionary custody measure in prison against 28 suspects, 20 of whom are wanted on the national territory (provinces of Bari, Rome, Trieste, Latina, Naples, Campobasso, Caserta, Perugia, Lecce, La Spezia, Massa Carrara, Isernia, Alessandria, Treviso and Venice) and the remaining 8 abroad (Croatia, Belgium, Moldova, England, Germany and Bulgaria), the latter recipients a specific European arrest warrant (EAW) and an international arrest warrant.
The catches made in these hours - arranged towards the subjects who, in the course of the activities, would have been identified as the main managers of the network dedicated to the purchase,
The investigations were initiated in 2018 following the monitoring of some articulated lorries in transit at the Brenner pass and were conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Trento, with the support of the SCICO of Rome, under the direction of the Public Prosecutor's Office. District of Trento.
Thanks to the use of sophisticated technical instruments useful for revealing double funds or covering loads, as well as resorting to telephone, telematic and environmental wiretapping, it has been possible to reconstruct a flourishing illicit traffic of smuggled products from numerous European countries (in particular Slovenia and Germany) transported aboard articulated lorries, buses, vans and even single cars often equipped with hidden compartments or accompanied by loads of cover goods, which also arrived in Italy from the Prato La Drava, Tarvisio and Trieste passes as well as from the Brenner Pass.
Among other things, the involvement of a distillery based in Trentino also emerged which attempted to smuggle a large quantity of alcoholic products in evasion of customs duties, through the fraudulent transfer of two loads of vodka (39,960 bottles), seized from Verona in March 2019.
During the investigations, the cooperation provided by the foreign police forces of the various countries involved, activated through the instrument of international judicial cooperation, as well as the coordination carried out by the DNAA following the numerous convergences with other District Prosecutors (in particular the DDA of Bari, Naples and Trieste).
At the outcome of the investigations, on the basis of the evidence collected to date, the position of 115 subjects (of Italian, Romanian, Moldovan, Ukrainian Greek, Maltese nationality) was reported to the AG of Trentino, including the 28 arrested today, suspected in various capacities - among other things - of criminal association aimed at smuggling foreign manufactured tobacco, evading the assessment or payment of excise duty on energy products and alcoholic beverages, all with the aggravating circumstance of the transnational crime.
The Trentino financiers also reconstructed the amount of taxes evaded (excise duties, customs duties and other taxes due) equal to € 27,268,161.36, as well as the release for consumption of a further 160 tons of tle and over 16 million of liters of alcoholic products.
Today's service operation testifies to the constant attention of the Guardia di Finanza to protect the economic and financial interests of the European Union.
This includes the action to combat the phenomenon of smuggling which still today represents a widespread crime and constitutes a threat to the budgets of the European Union and national states but also a potential danger to the health of citizens.
The more properly procedural phase now opens before the judicial authorities, during which the evidence gathered during the investigation will be discussed. ■