Drugs hidden in paprika: 38 arrests, €10 million seized

Brescia. Precautionary measures against 38 suspects and seizures of over 10 million euro. This is the result of an operation carried out by the financiers of the Trento Provincial Command, who executed an order issued by the gip of the Court of Trento at the request of the local Dda.

Twenty-seven people are in jail and 11 are under house arrest. The precautionary measures also concerned the province of Brescia, together with Trento, Turin, Milan, Bergamo, Bolzano, Verona, Pavia, Cremona and Livorno. The arrests were triggered at the end of an articulated and complex investigation, started in December 2021 and conducted by the Gico of the Trento Economic and Financial Police Nucleus.

Of the 38 suspects, 36 are of foreign nationality (Albanians, Tunisians, Moroccans and Portuguese). They are held responsible for various reasons of having been part of two interconnected criminal associations. The two gangs were dedicated to the trafficking of drugs (cocaine, hashish, marjuana and heroin), imported from other Italian regions and destined almost entirely to Trentino.

More than 49 kilos of hashish, 20 kilos of pure cocaine, more than 5 kilos of heroin and about 12 kilos of cutting substances were seized. During the search, the Green Berets also found a firearm, cash worth over 111 thousand euro and material for packaging the doses. From one kilo of pure cocaine, three kilograms could be obtained by cutting. The estimated market value exceeds 10 million euro.