A large-scale operation in mid-March 2025 has struck at the heart of an international drug trafficking organisation centred around the port of Catania. As part of an investigation coordinated by the District Prosecutor’s Office, officers from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza in Catania executed precautionary measures against six individuals deemed responsible for large-scale drug trafficking activities. Simultaneously, assets worth approximately 7.7 million euros were seized.
The investigation, conducted by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of Catania – the Anti-Drug Operations Group of the G.I.C.O., uncovered a sophisticated system for importing cocaine from South America by sea. The organisation employed advanced techniques to conceal the drugs inside containers used for transporting exotic fruit. Once they arrived at the port, the shipments were transferred to the premises of a port services management company in Catania’s industrial zone, where the drugs were extracted and delivered to their recipients, in exchange for a percentage ranging between 30% and 40% of the imported quantity.
The inquiry, carried out through wiretaps, surveillance, and the analysis of financial data, revealed a well-organised trafficking system, in which a man previously convicted of drug trafficking and his son, both employees of the company operating within the port, played a key role. According to investigators, the former had direct connections with prominent members of the Pillera/Puntina clan, who had already been convicted of mafia-related offences and drug trafficking.
Despite the precautions taken by those under investigation to evade detection, surveillance operations by the Guardia di Finanza documented at least three cocaine importation incidents, amounting to over 215 kilograms in total, in addition to a failed attempt to smuggle in a further 300 kilograms. The method used involved concealing the narcotics in double-bottom compartments inside the containers, a technique already identified in other large-scale international drug trafficking operations.
