On 4 February 2025, the Guardia di Finanza announced the discovery—carried out jointly with Customs officials—of a shipment of 27 kilograms of pure cocaine hidden in a container loaded with bananas from Ecuador, en route to the Caucasus region. The seized cocaine, once introduced into the market, could have generated over four million euros for the criminal organisations involved. The Calabrian port continues to confirm its role as a central hub for cocaine trafficking from South America, not only as a gateway for Italian destinations but also as a transshipment point towards Asia.
Just a couple of weeks earlier, the Guardia di Finanza and Customs had executed the first major cocaine seizure of 2025: 110 kilograms found in a container loaded with paper reels, which had been shipped from North America and was destined for an Italian location. In 2024, nearly four tonnes of cocaine were seized on Calabrian docks.
Regarding investigations into the overland logistics network, authorities are focusing on the Gallace clan of the ‘Ndrangheta, which, according to investigators, maintains contacts in the ports of Livorno, Salerno, Genoa, and Gioia Tauro, as well as at Rome's airport, to facilitate drug imports from Latin America. The online news outlet Lacnews24 reports that, in one wiretap, two alleged members of the clan were heard searching for a container with a cocaine shipment at the port of Livorno, receiving instructions to contact an individual working at the Tuscan port. In other intercepted conversations, traffickers provided directions on how to smuggle drugs out of the port of Gioia Tauro. In that instance, they suggested hiding the narcotics in the cavities of containers damaged in Brazil, which were scheduled for repair at the Calabrian terminal, thus avoiding scanner checks.
