The soldiers of the Provincial Command of Catania of the Guardia di Finanza, together with financiers of the Aeronavale Group of Messina, seized approximately 2 tons of narcotic substance of the cocaine type, found in the sea off the eastern coast of Sicily.
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In particular, as part of the specific control activities of the coastal waters of eastern Sicily for economic-financial police purposes, the naval air units of the Fiamme Gialle have identified numerous floating packages, escorted by a luminous signaling device and held together by nets which they avoided dispersion.
From a summary and external examination it was possible to ascertain the particular care of the packaging, probably aimed at avoiding infiltrations of water in order to preserve the contents and, at the same time, avoid the danger of sinking.
The peculiar packaging methods and the presence of a luminous device to allow it to be traced led to the hypothesis that it could be a cargo of drugs, probably left at sea by one of the cargo ships that ply that stretch of coast to be subsequently recovered and transported on the mainland.
Therefore, the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Financial Police of Catania was activated which, also with the support of the Aeronaval Operations Department of Palermo,
At the same time, an aerial reconnaissance activity was launched by aircraft of the Pratica di Mare Aero-maritime Exploration Group and the Catania Maneuvering Air Section aimed at verifying the possible presence of further parcels lost in the area surrounding the discovery area.
Once the air and sea activities were completed, specialized units of the aforementioned PEF Nucleus of Catania therefore proceeded to inspect the packages, finding the actual presence inside them of numerous pats containing a whitish substance in powder which, from a preliminary examination by using expeditious testing, it was found to be cocaine.
On the basis of the evidence that emerged, constantly informed the District Attorney of the Republic at the Court of Catania,
The activity carried out, made possible by the constant and synergistic action carried out by the operational garrisons of the Guardia di Finanza at sea and on the territory, is part of the broader framework that testifies to the effectiveness of the Yellow Flames device in the prevention and contrast of all forms of illicit traffic.
The identification and subsequent seizure of a similar quantity of drugs, one of the largest ever carried out in the national territory, prevented the drug from being likely to be recovered by criminal subjects for subsequent illegal marketing in the national territory, which would have yielded very high earnings, in the order of approximately over 400 million euros at retail. ■