Over 400 million euros worth of cocaine has been found floating off Sicily in packages likely left by a cargo ship for traffickers to bring ashore, Italian police said Monday. Police intercepted 70 packages, which were tied together and contained around two tonnes (2,000 kilogrammes) of cocaine, off Sicily’s eastern coast. The packages were made up of around 1,600 bricks of drugs and sported a tracking device. They were “probably left at sea by one of the cargo ships frequenting that stretch of coastline, to be subsequently recovered and transported to the mainland,” according to a police statement.
The cargo had a street value of over 400 million euros ($440 million), the police said. The ‘Ndrangheta, Italy’s leading organised crime group, is heavily involved in drug trafficking and controls the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe. Although Sicily is home to the Cosa Nostra mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta is based in the Calabria region across the Strait of Messina from Sicily.
The packages were spotted by a navy surveillance plane, and police intercepted them. According to police, this is one of the largest drug hauls ever made in Italy. The interception was part of ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking by organized crime groups in Italy.
