The Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Italian Public Prosecution District is implementing throughout the territory an order for the arrest of 42 Italian, Spanish and Albanian persons, involved in international drug trafficking and related to mafia organizations.
In relation to 6 of the 42 persons, a specific European arrest warrant is being executed in Spain and the Netherlands by the competent police authorities there, with the support of Eurojust and Europol.
As part of the operation, almost half a ton of drugs was seized, as well as a thousand refills for cannabinoid-based electronic cigarettes. The investigations found "the use of extensive, capillary and articulated logistical networks for the supply, transport, storage and distribution" of the drug "created through the creation of numerous shell companies and the use of numerous clandestine shipments". Next, the use of "smartphone devices equipped with sophisticated applications for the encrypted transmission of communications." And the use of "a system for transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking to traditional financial circles, based on informal mechanisms of laundering money groups.
The search across Italy and with reference to Milan, the anti-drug dog units of the Guardia di Finanza and the Milan Local Police Force are being used.
Among those arrested in the investigation that led to 42 precautionary measures and dismantled a drug traffic between Spain and Italy, a former army officer, Rosario D'Onofrio, is included. According to the investigations, the ex-soldier, even during periods of isolation in the middle of the Covid pandemic, dressed in police camouflage to move more freely, was involved in the transfer of drug loads.
Among those arrested was the drug trafficker Giovanni Neviera, who is believed to be connected to a mafia clan from Bari, Abbaticchio, and already convicted for mafia associations and drug trafficking.