JOINT OPERATION BY THE DIA AND THE SPANISH GUARDIA CIVIL: 700 KG OF COCAINE SEIZED ON A VESSEL OFF THE CANARY ISLANDS

700 kg of cocaine coming from South America were found and seized on board a vessel, which was subject of joint investigations   by the DIA and the Spanish Guardia Civil.

Two Italian citizens, a Croatian citizen and a Serbian citizen were arrested during the operation. Specifically, the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia had for a long time focused its attention on the Italian and Croation citizens as part of an investigation carried out under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court in Palermo – Anti-Mafia District Directorate. In November 2022, based on the investigation, it was possible to locate and arrest a person in Turkey, who had been fugitive since 2018, being subject of an order of pre-trial detention issued by the preliminary investigating judge at the court in Reggio Calabria as part of the operation “Pollino – European ‘ndrangheta connection”.  The fugitive had been sentenced by the court of first instance to 22 years and 8 months imprisonment for international drug trafficking.

Based on the investigations, it was possible to locate the sailing vessel “ROSSIO”, flying the Polish flag and owned by one of the Italian citizens who were arrested. The vessel was suspected of being used to transport huge quantities of drugs along the Atlantic route as also highlighted by the concurrent investigations carried out by the U.C.O. of the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Croatian police and the Serbian police. For this reason, based on an exchange of information through the Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Services- via the international cooperation channel under the aegis of Europol – and using the tools provided by the @ON Anti-Mafia Network, the DIA and the Spanish Guardia Civil jointly sent an alert to the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Narcotics) in Lisbon.

On 5 August 2023, approximately 500 nautical miles north west of the Canary Islands, the Central Operational Unit (U.O.C.) of the Guardia Civil, assisted by the special intervention units of the sea and air services, in close coordination – through EUROPOL – with the Italian, Croatian and Serbian investigative counterparts, boarded the vessel, where 700 kg of cocaine were found and seized and two Italian citizens were arrested. The Serbian and Croatian citizens were responsible for controlling the operations at land at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where they were arrested.

Joint investigations are still underway in Spain, Italy, Croatia and Serbia under the coordination of the relevant judicial authorities and in agreement with EUROPOL at the operational level, so to identify further people responsible at the places of origin and final destination of the drug load.

Roma, 22 August 2023